The Vicariate of Rome’s Office of Pastoral Care of Leisure Time, Tourism, and Sport (yes, there’s such a thing) is offering a four-part wine-tasting series throughout October and November, led by the famed theologian and sommelier Marco Cum, who also teaches religion and philosophy in Perugia.
As Elise Ann Allen notes in her article for Crux, “previous editions of the event The vine and the branches had great success, but it was cancelled for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Diocese of Rome is bringing back the event this fall. It includes four lessons (held every other week) on wine, all of them based on Scripture, history, and art. The first lesson, for example, will combine the study of ancient oenology, biblical verses from the Book of Isaiah, and the history of the Abbey of Cluny which, as Allen notes, is “widely considered a place of symbolic importance in European winemaking history.”