The water wasn't always safe back then. Instead they drank the juice from the grapes. As the juice aged, it naturally turned to wine because of the natural yeast it has on it's skin and the natural sugar contained in the fruit.
When the wine turned, it was still safer to drink than the water. The bible does say not to tarry too long at the wine flask, though. After it turned, people were not to go crazy with it.
Had they a way to keep the grape juice fresh so it wouldn't ferment, I'm sure they would have preferred the juice rather than the wine, because the next stage of the ferment is vinegar. (The wine/vinegar mix they offered Christ to drink while hanging on the cross).
The GOOD WINE was 15% alcohol
Very Dry,
Minerally,
Delineated with multiple flavors
occurring in sequence
& with great length.
Nobody could avoid coming to the conclusion that.
THIS IS GREAT!!
When someone is drinking water or juice at dinners, and feasts, and parties, do they really drink it with such gusto and in such quantities and with so much commenting and descriptions of it to be written down?
If I walked into a big party that looked exactly like a big drinking party, with big jugs and servers walking the room and constant refilling of empty cups and great merriment, and all the other appearances of drinking alcohol, and someone tried to tell me they were just drinking some grape juice, well, I don’t think so.
How much water or grape juice can someone drink while partying, we don’t need much liquids so why would they be binging after dark, at parties and feasts?