University of Virginia Library

IV.7.3

SUPERIOR STANDARDS IN THE ART
OF WINE MAKING & IN LARGE
SCALE PRODUCTION OF WINE & BEER

It would be a grave mistake to overlook in this context
the impact the medieval monastery had on modern viticulture
as a guardian and transmitter of standards established
by the ancients: the art of moving, storing and aging wine in
quantities sufficiently large to guarantee to every member of
the community the daily ration of wine permitted by St.
Benedict.[216] And it would be an even greater mistake to
overlook the contribution the monasteries made to the
modern brewing industry, by producing this beverage on a
scale that had no parallels in the secular world, where beer
in general was brewed in the home, and for the consumption
of small groups of people.[217] Nor can one disregard the
effect which the monastic wine and brewing industry had
on the cultivation of that highly specialized and proficient
skill of manufacturing for the transportation and storage of
these liquids, those large and ingeniously constructed
casks which in addition of being perfectly tight, when filled,
and of resisting considerable internal pressure during
fermentation, must also be capable of bearing the strain of
transportation to great distances.