As usual, this has been the most controversial claim in the FAQ, which is odd to me. Anyway, most Baptists and conservative evangelicals think that drinking any alcohol is a sin backed up by scripture. They extend it further by saying that "wine" and particularly "new wine" means "unfermented grape juice." Well, "wine" and "new wine" both refer to the fermented kind we know today, and I'll prove that. Also, the Bible does say clearly that being drunk is a sin, but drinking wine is not. As a matter of fact, wine is called for in rituals glorifying God throughout the Bible.
To back up this claim, I searched out every reference to "Wine" in the Bible. The only ones I haven't included here are the references in the Old Testament outside of the Books of Moses (the first 5), because they relate to a story, or how to do a ritual, and are not related to any rules on wine, or what is meant by "wine." Also, I included extra lines only if they were needed to keep the reference in context. Finally, I didn't include the chapter numbers because it would've taken forever with the electronic Bible (NIV) that I have.
For the rest of this document, my comments and observations will be in square brackets and bolded like this: [comment]. Selections are separated by a small line (____).
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Old Testament
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Genesis
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20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.
21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.
[This is the first reference to wine in the Bible. Since Noah got drunk, it had to be fermented wine.]
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18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High,
19 and he blessed Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.
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32 Let's get our father to drink wine and then lie with him and preserve our family line through our father."
33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and lay with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, "Last night I lay with my father. Let's get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and lie with him so we can preserve our family line through our father."
35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went and lay with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
36 So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.
[Again, it had to be fermented wine if they got him drunk.]
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May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness-- an abundance of grain and new wine.
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Isaac answered Esau, "I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?"
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11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.
[This passage is important. Notice it specifically distinguishes between wine and the blood of grapes (or unfermented grape juice).]
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EXODUS
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38 This is what you are to offer on the altar regularly each day: two lambs a year old.
39 Offer one in the morning and the other at twilight.
40 With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil from pressed olives, and a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.
41 Sacrifice the other lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning--a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the LORD by fire.
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LEVITICUS
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Then the LORD said to Aaron,
9 "You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.
[Here is the first time that someone is commanded NOT to drink wine. However, it is only for purposes of staying pure for entering the sacred Tent of Meeting. It is not a commandment to NEVER drink wine. And, note that it is specific about "wine or other fermented drink" which shows that "wine" means "fermented wine or fermented grape juice."]
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12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the LORD a lamb a year old without defect,
13 together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil--an offering made to the LORD by fire, a pleasing aroma--and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine.
14 You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
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NUMBERS
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1 The LORD said to Moses,
2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of separation to the LORD as a Nazirite,
3 he must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or from other fermented drink. He must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins.
4 As long as he is a Nazirite, he must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins.
5 "'During the entire period of his vow of separation no razor may be used on his head. He must be holy until the period of his separation to the LORD is over; he must let the hair of his head grow long.
6 Throughout the period of his separation to the LORD he must not go near a dead body.
[Again, there is a commandment to not drink wine and OTHER fermented drinks for purposes of purification during an event of separation. Note again that grape juice and the actual grape are specifically mentioned alongside wine as specific and distinctly different from wine here.]
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20 The priest shall then wave them before the LORD as a wave offering; they are holy and belong to the priest, together with the breast that was waved and the thigh that was presented. After that, the Nazirite may drink wine.
[And here, a few passages later, the person can drink wine again, after the separation ritual is done.]
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4 then the one who brings his offering shall present to the LORD a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil.
5 With each lamb for the burnt offering or the sacrifice, prepare a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.
6 "'With a ram prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil,
7 and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering. Offer it as an aroma pleasing to the LORD.
8 "'When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, for a special vow or a fellowship offering to the LORD,
9 bring with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil.
10 Also bring half a hin of wine as a drink offering. It will be an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.
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12 "I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the LORD as the firstfruits of their harvest.
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14 With each bull there is to be a drink offering of half a hin of wine; with the ram, a third of a hin; and with each lamb, a quarter of a hin. This is the monthly burnt offering to be made at each new moon during the year.
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DEUTERONOMY
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13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land--your grain, new wine and oil--the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you.
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14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil.
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17 You must not eat in your own towns the tithe of your grain and new wine and oil, or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts.
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23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.
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26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice.
[This passage is kinda unequivocal, eh?]
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4 You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep,
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39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.
[This is not a commandment to not drink wine, but a statement that these particular grapes and the wine from them will be bad.]
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51 They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined.
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5 During the forty years that I led you through the desert, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.
6 You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the LORD your God.
[This is not a commandment not to drink wine, just a statement that the Jews did not drink it during the Exodus.]
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31 For their rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede.
32 Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are filled with poison, and their clusters with bitterness.
33 Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.
[This is a warning about a particular people, not wine.]
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36 The LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free.
37 He will say: "Now where are their gods, the rock they took refuge in,
38 the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up to help you! Let them give you shelter!
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28 So Israel will live in safety alone; Jacob's spring is secure in a land of grain and new wine, where the heavens drop dew.
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New Testament
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MATTHEW
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17 Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
[This is one of Jesus' parables about His arrival and the new covenant with Him. But, as it relates to wine, when you make wine, the fermentation creates gases, which would make weak (old) wineskins burst.]
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34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.
[Since Jesus tastes the "wine" first before rejecting it upon discovering it's adulterated, it follows that He drinks wine.]
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48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink.
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MARK
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22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins."
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22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull).
23 Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.
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36 One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said.
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LUKE
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13 But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.
14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,
15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.
[John the Baptist evidently could never drink wine to fulfill God's purpose for Him.]
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36 He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.'"
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31 "To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like?
32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: "'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.'
33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.'
34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners."'
35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children."
[Here, Jesus clearly admits that He drinks wine, and fermented wine at that, since He would not be called a drunkard for drinking grape juice.]
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33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.
34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.
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36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar
37 and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself."
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JOHN
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1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there,
2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
3 When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
4 "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come."
5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so,
9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside
10 and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."
11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
[And, as I mentioned in the FAQ, this pretty much covers it. Jesus makes wine, and it's "fermented wine or fermented grape juice," for a wedding. Proof here that it's wine as we know it is that the master mentions that you typically serve the good stuff first, and the bad stuff later, because after you've had a couple glasses, you can't tell the bad stuff is so bad. So, I contend Jesus made wine, as we think of wine now, for a wedding as His first miracle, and He admits to drinking wine as well.]
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46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.
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29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.
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ACTS
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11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs--we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!"
12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine."
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.
15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning!
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THE REST OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
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20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.
21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.
22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves.
23 But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
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18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
[It states clearly here to not "get drunk" on wine, but it does not say, "do not drink wine." Getting drunk and getting into debauchery is the sin, not merely drinking wine.]
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8 Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain.
[Not indulging in "much" wine is pretty specific. It means, don't get drunk, but a couple glasses is OK.]
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22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
23 Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
24 The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them.
[Here it says, right out, drink "a little wine."]
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3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.
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REVELATIONS
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6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
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8 A second angel followed and said, "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries."
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9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand,
10 he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.
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9 The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.
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2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries."
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3 For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries."
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11 "The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more--
12 cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble;
13 cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men.
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[So, I think the evidence is clear. We are not to become drunken, since it leads to sin, but having a little wine (or any alcohol by extension) is just fine.]