There are three places in Shas where barrels of wine are mentioned and in each case the number 400 is mentioned. In the other two cases, the barrels went bad, and in this case the barrels were broken by Yalta, Rav Nachman's wife. It would seem that the number 400 denotes a "large amount" and is therefore used in all of these cases.

The question remains how Yalta could do such a thing in her anger, as it is forbidden to break items in one's anger (Shabbos 105b). The Ben Ish Chai suggests that Yalta angrily went upstairs but mistakenly broke the wine barrels (although it would be hard to break 400 barrels by mistake!).

It would seem however that Yalta was trying to prove a point: Ula had said that a woman does not independently control the blessing in the house and therefore there is no need to give the Kos Shel Berachah (wine representing the blessing in the house) to a woman, as her husband gets the blessing for her. Yalta felt that a woman does control the blessing, as without Shalom Bayis her husband cannot receive blessing. The breaking of the wine barrels signifies the cessation of the blessing, which Yalta felt stems from the woman, as mentioned in Tehilim: "Your wife is like a fertile vine at the side of your house." Ula then tried unsuccessfully to mollify Yalta, but she refused as she felt that Ula had disrupted her Shalom Bayis and his gesture was not genuine (just words).

Yoel Domb