John Calvin Commentary Luke 5:39

"And no man having drunk old [wine] desireth new; for he saith, The old is good." — Luke 5:39 (ASV)

And no person who has drunk old wine. This statement is given by Luke alone, and is undoubtedly connected with the preceding discourse. Though commentators have tortured it in a variety of ways, I take it simply as a warning to the Pharisees not to attach undue importance to a received custom. For why is it that wine, the taste of which remains unaltered, is not equally agreeable to every palate, but because custom and habit form the taste? Therefore, it follows that Christ’s manner of acting towards his disciples is not less worthy of approbation, because it has less show and splendor: as old wine, though it does not foam with the sharpness of new wine, is not less agreeable on that account, or less fitted for the nourishment of the body.