Stop W(h)ining!: A Guide to French Inebriation By: יוסף מרדכי שניצר (I went to yeshiva for multiple years)

(ג) אֵלּוּ דְבָרִים שֶׁל גּוֹיִם אֲסוּרִין וְאִסּוּרָן אִסּוּר הֲנָאָה. הַיַּיִן, וְהַחֹמֶץ שֶׁל גּוֹיִם שֶׁהָיָה מִתְּחִלָּתוֹ יַיִן, וְחֶרֶס הַדְרִיָּנִי, וְעוֹרוֹת לְבוּבִין.

Mishnah Avodah Zarah 2:3

(3) The following things belonging to non-Jews are forbidden [for Jews to use] and the prohibition extends to any benefit that may be derived from them: wine, or a non-Jew’s vinegar that was formerly wine, Hadrianic earthenware, skins pierced at the animal’s heart.

עבודה זרה ל׳ ב-ל״א א

א"ר אסי א"ר יוחנן משום ר' יהודה בן בתירא שלשה יינות הן יין נסך אסור בהנאה ומטמא טומאה חמורה בכזית סתם יינם אסור בהנאה ומטמא טומאת משקין ברביעית המפקיד יינו אצל עובד כוכבים אסור בשתיה ומותר בהנאה

Avodah Zarah 30b-31a

Rabbi Asi says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says in the name of Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira: There are three kinds of prohibited wines: It is prohibited to derive benefit from wine used for a libation, and the wine imparts severe ritual impurity when it has the volume of an olive-bulk. It is prohibited to derive benefit from nondescript wine of a gentile, and the wine imparts the ritual impurity of liquids when it has the volume of one-quarter of a log. With regard to the wine of one who deposits his wine with a gentile, one is prohibited from drinking it, but one is permitted to derive benefit from it.

עבודה זרה ל״ו ב:ג׳-ד׳

וגניבא משמיה דרב אמר כולן משום עבודת כוכבים גזרו בהן דכי אתא רב אחא בר אדא א"ר יצחק גזרו על פיתן משום שמנן מאי אולמיה דשמן מפת אלא על פיתן ושמנן משום יינן ועל יינן משום בנותיהן ועל בנותיהן משום דבר אחר ועל דבר אחר משום ד"א

Avodah Zarah 36b:3-4

The Gemara presents another opinion. And Geneiva says in the name of Rav: Gentiles’ bread, oil, wine, and daughters were all decreed upon due to the concern that Jews might participate in idol worship with gentiles as a result of intermingling with them. As, when Rav Aḥa bar Adda came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia he said that Rabbi Yitzḥak says: They decreed a prohibition upon their bread due to their oil. The Gemara asks: In what way is the prohibition with regard to oil stronger than the prohibition with regard to bread? That is, why does the primary concern relate to the oil of gentiles rather than their bread? The Gemara offers a different interpretation: Rather, they issued a decree prohibiting their bread and their oil due to their wine. And they issued the decree prohibiting their wine due to the fact that this leads to familiarity, and Jews will come to marry their daughters. And they issued a decree prohibiting their daughters due to something else, idolatry. And they further issued a decree on something else due to something else, which will be explained by the Gemara.

עבודה זרה ל׳ א:ה׳

שמואל ואבלט הוו יתבי אייתו לקמייהו חמרא מבשלא משכיה לידיה א"ל שמואל הרי אמרו יין מבושל אין בו משום יין נסך

Avodah Zarah 30a:5

The Gemara relates another incident: Shmuel and Ablet, a gentile scholar, were sitting together, and others brought cooked wine before them. Ablet withdrew his hand to avoid rendering the wine prohibited to Shmuel. Seeing this, Shmuel said to Ablet that the Sages said: Cooked wine is not subject to the prohibition of wine used for a libation, and therefore you need not withdraw your hand on my account.

יורה דעה קכ״ד:כ״ד

(כד) ...ובזמן הזה דהאומות לאו עובדי עבודת כוכבים הם כל מגען מיקרי שלא בכוונה (מרדכי פר"י והגהות אשיר"י ומהרי"ו בהל' סי' ט"ו) ולכן אם נגע ביין על ידי דבר אחר אף על פי שיודע שהוא יין וכוון ליגע בו מותר אפילו בשתייה... ואין לפרסם הדבר בפני עם הארץ

Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah 124:24

Gloss [of Rabbi Moses Isserles]: ... In our time, when non-Jews are not idol worshipers, any of their contact [with non-boiled Jewish wine] is considered unintentional, and therefore if [a non-Jew] touches wine indirectly, even if he knows it is wine and intends to touch it, it is permitted [for Jews] even to drink it ... But one should not publicize this fact to the unlearned.

WHY (KOSHER) WINE SHOULD BE CONSUMED!

תהילים ק״ד:ט״ו

(טו) וְיַ֤יִן ׀ יְשַׂמַּ֬ח לְֽבַב־אֱנ֗וֹשׁ לְהַצְהִ֣יל פָּנִ֣ים מִשָּׁ֑מֶן וְ֝לֶ֗חֶם לְֽבַב־אֱנ֥וֹשׁ יִסְעָֽד׃

Psalms 104:15

(15) And wine that makes glad the heart of man, making the face brighter than oil, And bread that stays man's heart.

עירובין ס״ה א:י״ט

אמר רבי חייא כל המתיישב ביינו יש בו דעת שבעים זקנים יין ניתן בשבעים אותיות וסוד ניתן בשבעים אותיות נכנס יין יצא סוד

Eruvin 65a:19

Rabbi Ḥiyya said: Anyone who remains settled of mind after drinking wine, and does not become intoxicated, has an element of the mind-set of seventy Elders. The allusion is: Wine [yayin spelled yod, yod, nun] was given in seventy letters, as the numerological value of the letters comprising the word is seventy, as yod equals ten and nun equals fifty. Similarly, the word secret [sod spelled samekh, vav, dalet] was given in seventy letters, as samekh equals sixty, vav equals six, and dalet equals four. Typically, when wine entered the body, a secret emerged. Whoever does not reveal secrets when he drinks is clearly blessed with a firm mind, like that of seventy Elders.

סנהדרין ל״ח א:ג׳

אמר להם בניי קוצים אתם מטילין לי בעיניי א"ל רבי חייא רבי אל ירע בעיניך יין ניתן בשבעים אותיות וסוד ניתן בשבעים אותיות נכנס יין יצא סוד

Sanhedrin 38a:3

Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said to them: My children, do you throw thorns in my eyes? How can you say this in the presence of the Nasi himself? Rabbi Ḥiyya said to him: My teacher, do not view their behavior in a negative light. Wine [yayin] is given in letters of seventy, i.e., the numerical value of the letters in the word yayin is seventy, and secret [sod ] is given in letters of seventy, i.e., the numerical value of the letters in the word sod is seventy. When wine enters, secrets emerge.

עירובין ס״ה ב:א׳

אי נשפך בביתו כמים איכא ברכה ואי לא לא

Eruvin 65b:1

This teaches that if wine flows in a person’s house like water, there is a blessing, but if not, there is no blessing.