If there are three <i>log</i> of [drawn] water, and a <i>kortov</i> of wine fell into them, and their appearance is thereby like that of wine, and they [that mixture] fell into a <i>mikveh</i> [containing fewer than forty <i>se'ah</i>], they have not rendered it invalid [as drawn waters, since their appearance is that of wine]. If there are three <i>log</i> of water less one <i>kortov</i>, and a <i>kortov</i> of milk fell into them, and their appearance is thereby [still] like that of water, and they fell into a <i>mikveh</i>, they have not rendered it invalid [since there is still less than three <i>log,</i> of drawn water]. Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri says: everything follows the appearance.
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
ונפלו למקוה לא פסלוהו – for since they appear like wine, and fruit juice does not invalidate [the Mikveh] with three LOG.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
If a kortov of wine fell into three logs of water and its color became like that of wine, and the water then fell into a mikveh, it does not render it invalid. Wine doesn't disqualify a mikveh. Drawn water does. So what do we do with a mixture of the two? According to the mishnah, if the color is like wine, then the water is treated like wine. It is interesting to note that since in the time of the Mishnah people usually drank their wine mixed with water, a cup of wine/water would probably be in their eyes, wine, not water mixed with wine. In other words, if it has the color of wine, its wine.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
כל הולך אחר המראה – even though the milk does not invalidate the Mikveh and there isn’t in the water a measure of three LOG to invalidate, nevertheless since there are here three LOG that appear like water, we consider them as if they are all water and they invalidate. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
If there were three logs of water less a kortov into which a kortov of milk fell, and their color remained like the color of water, and then they fell into a mikveh, they do not render it invalid. Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri says: everything goes by the color. In this case, a little bit of milk, which does not disqualify the mikveh, falls into almost three logs of drawn water, which are not quite sufficient to disqualify the mikveh. There are now three logs of what looks like drawn water, but since there are not actually three logs of drawn water, the mikveh is not disqualified. Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri disagrees with this case. Since the color is that of water, the substance must be treated as water which does disqualify the mikveh. This would make the rule in section two consistent with that in section one.
