"Bill" > wrote in message
...
> I think we have stumbled into a real quagmire here. The Christian
> Brothers are a world wide organization and one would certainly
> assume that these wines are marketed to Catholic churches around
> the world. These wines are approved by the Catholic church for
> communion. Some one must bless them.

I'm not 100% positive about this, but AFAIK _any_ parish priest can bless
wine. Not quite the same as with kosher wine, which has to be produced
under rabbinical supervision using only kosher cellar supplies.

Many years ago (~40) there
> was an article in the now defunct Les Amis du Vin magazine about
> sacramental wines. It described such attributes as the wine had
> to be semi-sweet so people would not make a bad face when they
> drank it. They work hard at figuring out how to have red wine that
> does not stain permanently.

That's old hat. The rubrics were revised to permit the use of white wine
for communion, as well as crystal glassware (rather than the traditional
gold lined chalice). The switch to white wine was a strictly practical
matter: red wine stains are too difficult to remove from the linens.

> (most Protestant churches where I grew up use Welches sacramental wines,
> namely pure grape juice)

I've always thought the protestants were cheated a bit on that score for the
sake of temperance. Jesus didn't turn water into grape juice at Cana, and
you can be darn sure He and the apostles didn't drink unfermented grape
juice at the Last Supper!

Tom S