A historical method for clarifying or refining wine using animal blood. In earlier times, this practice was carried out using methods that are considered problematic from today’s perspective. These included, amongst other things, milk (already described in Johann Rasch’s *Weinbuch* from 1580), as well as urine or blood. In the Middle Ages, cattle or ox blood was primarily used, and in some cases pig or lamb blood as well. This served partly for clarification, but partly also deliberately to adulterate the wine in order to give it a more intense colour. The blood was added either fresh or in a dried, powdered form. Such adulteration of wine was prohibited and, in some cases, severely punished. In the production of kosher wine, the use of blood was always strictly forbidden.
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Sigi Hiss
freier Autor und Weinberater (Fine, Vinum u.a.), Bad Krozingen