<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: normal; margin: 0in -26.2pt 10pt 0in;" align="left"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Rav Shraga Simmons gives two sources from Rishonim who specifically state that before drinking wine people say l&rsquo;chaim. The first source is from Machzor Vitri (chapter 80), written nearly 1,000 years ago, and it is linked to the prohibition of speaking whilst eating, since this could lead people to choke to death. To avoid this eventuality, before a person says the berachah over wine, which under the principle of &ldquo;shomea k&rsquo;oneh&rdquo; could also enable others to fulfil the mitzvah of saying the berachah by just listening, one asks that they agree that their mouths are empty and they answer l&rsquo;chaim &ndash; and thus they won&rsquo;t choke to death. The second source is the Kol Bo (chapter 25) written in about the 14th century. There is a dispute whether one is obliged to bentch over a cup of wine and one asks the others present if they hold that one should bentch over it and they answer l&rsquo;chaim &ndash; it should be for life and not for the purpose of those to be put to death by a Beis Din.</span></span></span></p>