Faithful to my promise to just occasionally post something here that has anything to do with wine, I present the following, a brief excerpt in the form of a conversation between a Prior, a Countess, and a Count, transcribed from: Spectacle de la Nature: or, Nature Display'd, being Discourses on such Particulars of Natural History as were thought most proper to Excite the Curiosity and Form the Minds of Youth. Vol. II. Translated from the Original French. London, 1776.

Countess. I am not so much surprised at the Production and agreeable Flavour of Wine, as I am at its beneficial Effects. Other Liquors, whether natural or artificial, as Beer, Cyder, Tea, Chocolate, and Coffee, create Silence and serious Airs, for the Generality, and consign those who drink them to a melancholy Cast of Mind. If they sometimes assemble a company around them, the Conversation either assumes a moralising Turn of Gloominess, or degenerates into an insipid Flow of Politics, which sometimes (p. 217) ends in a disobliging Warmth of Argument. But it is the peculiar Privilege of Wine to introduce Vivacity and Joy, wherever it appears. It unfetters the Tongue, invigorates the Mind, and prompts the Heart to utter its pleasing Tranquility in chearful Songs.
Prior. As Wine is the infallible Source of Joy, it may consequently be considered as the Soul of all our Feasts. No Entertainment can be agreeable without the Ministrations of this generous Liquor. Wine alone is sufficient to compensate the Want of many excessive Dainties, but nothing can be substituted to any Satisfaction in its Room, and no Varieties have Merit enough to reconcile the Company to its Absence.
Count. We may add to these excellent Qualities, that it diffuses an Air of Serenity through all the Features, by its Dissipation of Sadness, and every Cloud that pensive Musings had drawn over the Mind. It brings inveterate Enemies together, and causes them to revisit with each other, with an Air of Openness and Unconstraint. Anger no longer lightens in their Eyes; they grow conscious of a mutual Amiableness; and all their Aversion disappears in a reviving Friendship. Wine, by these Means, becomes the persuasive Mediator of the softest Reconciliations, and may justly be considered as one of the most engaging Bands of Society.