If all be true that I do think, There are five reasons why men drink, Good wine, a friend, or being dry, Or lest we should be by-and-by, Or any other reason why.

-Aldrich, Henry
  'Five Reasons for Drinking'.

The fine wine leaves you with something pleasant; the ordinary wine just leaves.

-Amerine, Maynard Andrew
Quoted in Clifton Fadiman The New Joy of Wine (1990).

Quhen Alysaunder oure kyng wes dede, That Scotland led in lauche and le, Away wes sons of alle and brede, Off wyne and wax, of gamyn and gle; Oure gold wes changyd in to lede. Cryst, borne in to virgynyte, Succour Scotland, and remede, That stad is in perplexyte.

-Anonymous
c.1286  Lines said to have been written after the death of Alexander II of Scotland, the earliest extant piece of Scottish verse. Quoted in the Original Chronicle of  Andrew Wyntoun (c.1420), bk.7.

Late at e'en, drinkin'the wine, And ere they paid the lawin', They set a combat them between, To fight it at the dawin'. 'O stayat hame, my noble lord, O stay at hame, my marrow! My cruel brother will you betray On the dowie houms o' Yarrow!'

-Ballads
'The Dowie Houms o' Yarrow'.

The king sits in Dunfermline town, Drinking the blude-red wine; 'O whare will I get a skeely skipper, To sail this new ship of mine?'

-Ballads
'Sir Patrick Spens', opening lines.

Il est l'heure de s'enivrer! Pour n'e"  tre pas les esclaves martyrise¤  s duTemps, enivrez-vous sans cesse! De vin, de poe¤  sie ou de vertu, a'   votre guise. This is the time for drunkenness! Be not the martyred slaves of Time, drink without stopping! Drink wine, poetry, or virtue, as you please.

-Baudelaire, Charles
  Le Spleen de Paris,'Enivrez-vous'.

Do you remember an Inn, Miranda? Do you remember an Inn, And the tedding and the spreading Of the straw for a bedding, And the fleas that tease in the High Pyrenees And the wine that tasted of the tar?

-Belloc, (Joseph) Hilaire Pierre
  'Tarantella'.

Omnes nimirum, ex quo monachi sumus, infirmos stomachos habemus, et tam necessarium Apostoli de utendo vino consilium merito non negligimus. Modico, tamen quod ille praemissit, nescio cur praetermisso. Being monks, we all naturally have a weak stomach, and we therefore justly attend to the Apostle's advice to use wine. He adds, however, the words 'a little'; I can't think why I have omitted them.

-St Bernard of Clairvaux
c.1124  Apologia ad Guillelmum, ch.9, section 21.

He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Psalms104:14^15.

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Ecclesiastes 9:7.

A feast ismade for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Ecclesiastes10:19.

Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!

-Bible (Old Testament)
Isaiah 5:11.

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 104

-Bible (Old Testament)
Isaiah 55:1^2.

The first wrote,Wine is the strongest. The second wrote, The king is strongest. The third wrote,Women are strongest: but above all thingsTruth beareth away the victory.

-Bible (Apocrypha)
Esdras 3:10^12.

Forsake not an old friend; for the new is not comparable to him: a new friend is as new wine; when it is old, thou shalt drink it with pleasure.

-Bible (Apocrypha)
Ecclesiasticus 9:10.

Wine and womenwill make men of understanding to fall away: and he that cleaveth to harlots will become impudent.

-Bible (Apocrypha)
Ecclesiasticus19:2.

Wine is as good as life to a man, if it be drunk moderately: what life is then to a man that is without wine? for it was made to make men glad.

-Bible (Apocrypha)
Ecclesiasticus 31:27.

No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St Matthew 9:16^17.

When therulerof the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St  John 2:9^10.

Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.

-Bible (NewTestament)
Ephesians 5:18.