Divine Inspiration: Influence of Monastic Orders

Wine has been intertwined with history from the outset of Western Civilization. Grape harvesting flourished in the Ancient Near East and Egypt; evidence shows Celtic tribes in Gaul cultivated wild grapevines prior to the arrival of the Phoenicians, who are later credited with spreading vines throughout much of the Mediterranean in the 6th century BCE. In the last few centuries before the Common Era, the Greeks and subsequently the Romans expanded viticulture into new territories. They were the first civilizations to make legendary wines, the records of which survive today. Both societies advanced viticulture and winemaking, forming a foundation of knowledge and know-how. That knowledge would have been lost after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, were it not for the Catholic monasteries in Europe.

In Burgundy, the brothers of monastic orders such as the Benedictines were the first to identify and farm some of the region’s greatest vineyard sites. From there they spread to Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and beyond. Their wines were lauded throughout Europe and a fixture on tables of the upper class. Monks were among the first to practice the distillation of alcohol, and they created spirits and eaux-de-vie in addition to making advancements in brewing.

The word “monasticism” is derived from the Greek monachos, indicating a solitary person. The history of Christian monasticism began in the 3rd century with hermetic monks who lived solitary lives in the desert, but it was not until St. Benedict of Nursia established what would become the Benedictine Order that monasticism took root. Considered the father of Western monasticism, St. Benedict taught his Rule, focusing on ora et labor—work and prayer—and codifying the expectations of those seeking to devote their lives to the church. Followers of the Rule undertake vows of stability, conversion and obedience. The Benedictine Order grew over the course of several centuries and founded Cluny Abbey in 910, which became the guiding force for Western monasticism. In France, abbeys were established in the Loire and Champagne, as well as the Rhône and Bordeaux, although the latter's wine trade was still dominated by commercial forces.

The cultivation of vines was forged by necessity. As a medicine, it was used to disinfect wounds, and it was consumed as a tonic for ailments. As a food, it was part of daily life—not just for the brothers of the abbey but also for pilgrims, students, and the sick. From an economic standpoint, surplus wine could be sold off to help fund upkeep of the monasteries. Moreover, wine was a component of the Eucharist, one of the holiest (and most routinely practiced) rites within the Catholic Church. Transubstantiation, the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, is a central part of Communion. Prior to an understanding of fermentation, there was undoubtedly something miraculous about winemaking. Wine is mentioned throughout scripture and Jesus is referred to as the Living or True Vine. Images of the crucified Christ in a wine press became common around the 11th century, and remained popular up to the 18th century.

The land was farmed by monks, nuns, and the peasantry from the surrounding areas. This time period saw the development of métayage, the system of sharecropping whereby laborers tended to farms in return for a share of the harvest. Illustrations of this work have been handed down in the form of manuscripts and calendars. Over time the sites yielding the best wines were mapped out, building walls around certain sites or clos. The monks of the Abbey of Saint-Vivant were responsible for clearing the woodland and planting vines in Vosne, inspiring the name of today’s eponymous grand cru Romanée-Saint-Vivant. By the 16th century, we see the first mentions of the plot Clos de Cinq Journaux, part of which we know today as Romanée-Conti.

The climate was ripe for the spread of monasticism. The French Capetian dynasty, Crusader Kings under whose rule Christianity flourished, took the throne. The Dukes of Valois (1361-1477), great patrons of monastic viticulture, were an offshoot of this house. The Golden Age of Monasticism perhaps began with the founding of the Cistercian order, a stricter offshoot of the Benedictines. The cause for the division from the Benedictines stemmed from the fact that in the centuries since its inception, the order had grown wealthy from land gifts and monetary donations made by the noble classes to atone for sin. Its land holdings were expansive. By 1098, the year Robert de Molesme founded the Abbey of Cîteaux amidst the swampland south of Dijon, the Abbey of Cluny was one of the largest vineyard land owners in Europe. Benedictines were living comfortable lives, and corruption crept into the order. In a rejection of the direction the Benedictine order, Cistercians adhered to more extreme interpretation of the Rule of St. Benedict. It was a return to true asceticism, emphasizing manual labor, and helped the Cistercians become the most influential monastic order for winemaking. Some believe they were the first cultivators of Chardonnay in Burgundy, and they extensively cleared woodland, drained marshes and planted vines, ora et labor.

Outside of Burgundy, the Carthusians—best known for that incomparable elixir Chartreuse—were founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 as an order of hermits, forgoing speech apart from a weekly walk. Their legacy includes Karthäuserhofberg, one of the finest sites in Germany for Riesling, which they worked until their expulsion during the French Revolution. The priory at Scala Dei, from which Priorat derives its name, is another Carthusian effort.

In Germany, the Benedictine Order established Schloss Johannisberg. They founded the abbey Bischofsberg (bishop's hill) in 1110, later dedicating the Rheingau monastery to St. John the Baptist, or Johannis. In 1139, Cistercians founded Kloster Eberbach, which quickly became one of the wealthiest monasteries in Germany.

The founding and rise of the Benedictine, Cistercian, Carthusian and other orders coincided with the period known at the Medieval Warm Period. Temperatures in Europe were abnormally warm from approximately 950 to 1200 AD, with less annual rainfall. Grapes would have struggled less to achieve ripeness, and crops in general were bountiful. The populations of many regions exploded, which led to a larger workforce. Everywhere the monks traveled the grapevine went with them; they established new outposts throughout Europe and preserved their work through the written word.

The Decline

A storm of socio-political upheaval defined the 14th century in Europe. The 1300s saw famine, war, and the arrival of the Black Plague. A rapidly decreasing workforce brought on by these combined disasters led to the abandonment of vineyards across Europe. In 1315 the Great Famine struck—one of several that would occur in Europe during the 14th century. The brief spell of the Medieval Warm Period came to a conclusion and was followed by great suffering. With European population at an all time high, these reoccurring famines were particularly devastating. The price of grain skyrocketed and malnutrition became common.

There was to be no respite for Medieval Europeans; 1337 saw the start of the Hundred Years War, and within ten years the Black Death raged through villages, towns and cities, decimating populations. Approximately 30% of Europe's population was lost to the plague. Monasteries were badly hit as the ill and infirm sought refuge within their walls. As the perpetual cycle of disease, war and malnutrition continued, the workforce dwindled. But still, amidst the chaos there was progress.

The arrival of the Black Death in 1348 would have momentous repercussions. With fewer people to work the land vineyards deteriorated; some were abandoned altogether. It brought a halt to viticulture in England. (The last few monastic bastions of English winemaking to survive the plague were dissolved by Henry VIII during the late 1530s.) Following the Black Death, the Western Schism was an embarrassing episode in the Catholic Church. The confluence of Western European politics resulted in three men who each claimed the papacy. It wouldn't be resolved until 1417, but it was too late; the damage was done.

War and peasant revolts wrought havoc on vineyards as abbeys became targets for sack and plunder. Between 1524 and 1525, a series of peasant revolts broke out across Germany. From the Rheingau to Baden, monasteries were raided and rebel forces commandeered vast stores of wine. The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) dealt another blow, especially to vineyards in Germany, Austria and Italy. Kloster Eberbach was nearly destroyed by the oncoming Swedish army, and a few years would pass before anyone returned to repair the damage. The armies of Louis XIII set out to lay waste to vineyards and other crops throughout the Rheingau and Pfalz; prior to 1618, there were over four times the amount of land under vine than today.

Helpless to stop the ravages of disease and unable to offer an explanation for the tragedy, the Church began to lose its power and influence over the general population; people began to lose faith in symbols that had once brought them comfort. Scandals plagued the papacy, further stoking distrust in the Church. Orders moved away from their core tenets, and there were simply too many monasteries. The foundations of the Church had been shaken, culminating in the Protestant Reformation, launched when German theologian Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to a church door. Yet monks continued to make wine, brew beer, and distill spirits. By no means did monastic orders disappear after the Reformation; indeed, some of the most lasting innovations were yet to come.

In the latter part of the 1500s, Jesuits fanned out across the New World, and like the brothers of bygone centuries planted grapes extensively. The Mission grape, being fairly disease resistant, was the grape of choice for the Franciscans from California down to Chile. They paved the way for secular winemakers, and in California they were the primary growers until the Mexican government secularized religious houses.

Around 1668, a blind Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Hautvillers took up the role of cellar master. Although he was not the first to make sparkling wine, Dom Perignon honed the art of making white wine from black grapes, employed blending and careful sorting in order to use only the best grapes for his wine and was among the first to realize the potential of cork enclosures. His early developments helped lead the way for Champagne’s eventual success, and by the 1800s fever for the wines spread across the Continent.

As women began joining monastic orders, they left their mark on European winemaking. Vin jaune and the famous vin de paille of Jura were developed by the Benedictine nuns of the abbey of Château Chalon. Although the abbey was dismantled during the French Revolution and the vineyards were subsequently devastated by the triple threat of mildew, oidium and phylloxera that ran rampant through Europe in the 19th century, their legacy lives on in the wines of the region.

In Europe, this brief renewal of activity was followed by a drastic series of changes that occurred after the French Revolution. The Church was dispossessed of its land and vineyard holdings, which were subsequently auctioned off to the highest bidder. The implementation of the Napoleonic Code put an end to the practice of primogeniture, and led to the fracturing of vineyards in regions such as Burgundy and Germany. 

Today many monasteries no longer retain their vineyard sites of old, but their legacies remain in the Romanesque abbeys, in the walled clos of Burgundy, and in the vineyard names of Germany and France. Nonnenberg, Klostergarten, Jesuitengarten, and Clos de Moines are a few examples. Several traditional liqueurs and eaux-de-vie are still produced by the original orders. Chartreuse, first made as a medicinal topic, is still produced by Carthusian monks in the Chartreuse Mountains according to their secret recipe. As the original tradesmen and women of wine of Europe and the Americas, we are indebted to these pioneers of the vine and their indelible contributions to wine as it is today.

Further Reading

Curtis, Charles. The Original Grand Crus of Burgundy. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Morris, Jasper. Inside Burgundy: The Vineyards, the Wine & the People. London: Berry Bros. & Rudd, 2010. Print.

Robinson, Jancis. The Oxford Companion to Wine. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1994. Print. 7^th Edition

Seward, Desmond. Monks and Wine. London: Mitchell Beazley, 1979. Print.