History of non-alcoholic wine

[Walt Kopp]

My daughter-in-law belongs to a religious group that claims that nonalcoholic wine was available in biblical times. (The argument goes: Jesus would never drink alcohol, yet the Bible says, of course, that he offered wine to the Apostles at the Last Supper, and changed water to wine at the wedding in Cana -- supposedly his first miracle.)

But since her church shuns use of alcohol, their logic says that Jesus himself never drank any. I find this hard to believe, because if nothing else, wine was safer to drink than water back then, since the alcohol killed a lot of undesirable microorganisms that can do people harm.

What I'd like to know is if the production of nonalcoholic wine was even known in those days. I'm not that knowledgeable about the process, but from what I understand, wine nowadays is made and then the alcohol removed. Did ancients also produce JUST grape juice? Wouldn't it go bad rather quickly, or ferment by itself?

I'm sure any history will not sway her beliefs, and I probably won't even relate what I find out, but just for my own curiosity, I'd like to know of evidence that alcohol free beverages were or were not available. If not, where and when was the process of removing alcohol started? If you have no info, can you point me to other sources that might know?
Thanks!

[Thomas]

de-alcoholing wine is a relatively modern "invention." Before this century there were fewer insane people out there who thought it necessary to ruin the natural product.

Wine was part of Judaism, and Jesus was a Jew. So, the history is clear on that count. But you are correct: history hardly makes an impact on religious fanaticism.