Bava Batra 96b — the Talmud in English

And Shmuel said:

even if it turned to vinegar within the first three days, it is in the possession of the buyer, because

the wine leaps upon the shoulders of its owner ]the wine leaps upon the shoulders of its owner]. That is to say, the fortune of the owner of the wine and his sins are what cause the wine to turn to vinegar.

And the seller can say to the buyer: Your fortune caused the wine to turn to vinegar!

Rav Yosef performed an act,

he decided a halakha in practice

in accordance with Rav, with beer,

with beer that turned sour within three days.

And in accordance with Shmuel with wine,

with wine that turned to vinegar within three days. For with wine, the fortune of the buyer caused it to turn to vinegar.

And the halakha is in accordance with Shmuel.

The Sages taught: Both beer

that is made from

dates,

and beer

that is made from

barley,

and wine lees

upon which water is placed and they are left until the water absorbs the taste of the lees. And this is called “temed,”

one recites over them: “by Whose word everything came to be.”

Others say: Lees that contain the taste of wine, one recites over them: “Who creates the fruit of the vine.”

Rabba and Rav Yosef both say: The halakha is not in accordance with Others.

Rather, even if they contain the taste of wine, one recites over the lees, “by Whose word everything came to be.”

Rava said: Everyone agrees that if one poured three and four came out,

if the temed was so strong that for every three cups of water that he placed upon the lees, another cup of the wine that had been absorbed in the lees was added, and four cups of temed were produced, then even the first tannai agrees that

it is wine,

that this temed has the status of wine, and one recites over it “Who creates the fruit of the vine.”

And the Gemara explains:

Rava follows his reasoning.

For Rava said: Any wine

wine

that does not bear,

to which is not added

upon one

part of wine

three

parts of

water—

is not wine.

It is not wine, because it is too strong and is not fit to drink as it is, until water three times its amount is added to it.

And here too Rava holds that if the water is three times the wine in the lees, it is complete wine.

And Rava continues:

Three poured and three came out,

if he placed three cups of water upon the lees and nothing was added, but those same three cups remained, even Others agree,

it is nothing.

It does not have the status of wine, and even if it contains the taste of wine, since nothing at all was added to it from the lees, it is considered like water, and one recites over it “by Whose word everything came to be.”

They disagree

the first tannai and Others

when three poured and three and a half came out,

when half a cup was added for every three cups of water that he placed upon the lees.

For the Rabbis hold: Three enter, three go out.

The same three cups of water that he placed upon the lees came back out.

Half remains,

the additional half-cup remains, which is wine that came out of the lees.

And half in six half-parts of water,

half a cup of wine in relation to six half-cups of water,

it is nothing.

Since it contains one-seventh wine, it is not called wine.

And Others hold: Three enter, two and a half go out.

Of the three cups of water that he placed upon the lees, only two and a half of them came back out, whereas half a cup of water was absorbed into the lees, and in its place half a cup of wine came out of the lees, for wine tends to float upward.

A cup remains.

It follows that altogether a full cup of wine came out of the lees.

And a cup in two and a half,

a cup of wine in relation to two and a half cups of water,

superior wine

complete wine

it is.

For it is more than one-quarter wine, which we said earlier is considered wine according to everyone.

And we raise an objection to Rava:

And when it is more than its measure, do they disagree!?

Is there anyone who disagrees concerning this—that if the quantity of the temed is greater than the quantity of water that he placed upon the lees, it has the status of wine?