Sacramental wine purchase?

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I am not a wino, and drink very very little of any alcohol, but I really like the taste of the wine they have in Communion. I understand it is special wine and, as a Sacrastin, can look at the bottle when refilling the cruets. I don’t recognize the winery as any that you can buy in the store. I know there are Catholic stores where Priests buy their supplies, but if I went in to get a bottle, they would say “LETS SEE your Priest’s License!!!”

So, If I went to a large store like BEVMO, would they have sacramental wine for sale?
I know that drinking it unblessed can’t be a problem, for it is just common wine then.
I see Manaschevitz wine in the stores and know it is Kosher for Jewish use. Would that be the same? I am not going to down bottle of it, but just want the same great taste as we have in communion. There, I can only get a few drops at a time.

Anyone know where or IF a lay person can purchase sacramental wine?
 
If you search Google for “sacramental wine” you will learn a great deal about it and find quite a few suppliers. If you discover the type used by your parish, you can likely find someone who carries it via another search.

No offense, but I believe that you are the first person I have ever heard who actually had a preference for the taste of sacramental wine! 🙂

Paul
 
Ack, sweet sacramental wine. In my group of friends, “altar wine” is our code for wine that is too sweet to drink 🙂

Find out the winery and give them a call or google them, they will be happy to sell you a case.
 
I think … note THINK that our rules are the same as the Jews. I used to do the Brucha for a single female Jewish friend. I just stopped off & bought a bottle of kosher wine. There are a lot out there. And they are GOOD. Mogan David is left WAY behind. It is avaliable at any wine store.
 
wa6mhz said:
I am not a wino, and drink very very little of any alcohol, but I really like the taste of the wine they have in Communion. I understand it is special wine and, as a Sacrastin, can look at the bottle when refilling the cruets. I don’t recognize the winery as any that you can buy in the store. I know there are Catholic stores where Priests buy their supplies, but if I went in to get a bottle, they would say “LETS SEE your Priest’s License!!!”

So, If I went to a large store like BEVMO, would they have sacramental wine for sale?
I know that drinking it unblessed can’t be a problem, for it is just common wine then.
I see Manaschevitz wine in the stores and know it is Kosher for Jewish use. Would that be the same? I am not going to down bottle of it, but just want the same great taste as we have in communion. There, I can only get a few drops at a time.

Anyone know where or IF a lay person can purchase sacramental wine?
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A lot of people don’t realize this, but there’s nothing particular that makes altar wine “altar wine”. The wine for the Precious Blood must be true wine, made from grapes, and have no additional sweeteners or flavorings, or preservatives (beyond a bare minimum), or anything else. The vast majority of wines available on the shelf might potentially be used as altar wine. The only difference is that a competent authority in the Church has certified this wine for use at the altar.

That’s a long way of sayiing that vintners produce a line of wine and most of the bottles get “regular” labels, and some of them get “altar wine” labels, but the product inside is identical. It might already be on the shelf at your local store, but it’s just not labeled the same.

So you could contact the winery, ask who their distributors are, and buy all you want. A very few wineries cater exclusively to Catholic churches, so you might have some difficulty getting them to sell it to you–not because they can’t but simply because they don’t have any method of selling to a private person.

It never hurts to ask.

If you do find a source to sell it to you, they might inquire why you want to buy altar wine if you’re not a priest, but probably would not have any problem selling it as long as they don’t suspect you’re trying to do something underhanded with it.

Would you mind sharing with us exactly what that wine is? I’m curious, and I daresay others are too at this point.

PS
I missed the part where you’ve already looked in the store. But the information still applies. They might sell to other stores, or might be selling the same product under a different name label.
 
It’s not restricted for purchase because it’s a church supply.
It is because of state and federal laws, which become relaxed for churches and clergy. it’s really just a pure simple wine with no additives,
err, and 12 to 18 % alcohol. if you want a sweet strong wine go to a wine shop and check out after dinner wines.
but here is a link to a church wine supplier anyways:
zieglers.com/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=514
unless you buy in large lots it can get expencive. we are small and we pay around 5 to 9 for a bottle, plus shipping.
 
bednar said:
I remember it being quite dry in the 1980s.
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There are many kinds wines certified for use at Mass. It’s not a case of “altar wine is altar wine is altar wine”. There are dry ones, sweet ones, semi-dry ones, red, white and rosé.

The ones we use are Cribari wines and we get them through our local gov’t liquor store.
 
FrCorey said:
It’s not restricted for purchase because it’s a church supply.
It is because of state and federal laws, which become relaxed for churches and clergy. it’s really just a pure simple wine with no additives,
err, and 12 to 18 % alcohol. if you want a sweet strong wine go to a wine shop and check out after dinner wines.
but here is a link to a church wine supplier anyways:
zieglers.com/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=514
unless you buy in large lots it can get expencive. we are small and we pay around 5 to 9 for a bottle, plus shipping.
Click to expand...
Depends on the source. My source for altar wine happens to also be a retailer licensed to sell to the public (just happens to be, that’s all). They won’t sell altar wine except to a church as a matter of store policy but they’ll happily sell the exact same wine with a different label, and they have to charge all the taxes.

Your post brings up another good point; churches buy this wine with the understanding that it will be used only for religious services, so it wouldn’t be possible (or at least not legal) to re-sell it to someone else.

If we know which wine the OP is seeking, readers here might be able to help in some way.
 
I had sacramental wine here and there at the Episcopal church I used to attend and never thought much of it. Then two nights ago at Easter Vigil, when I was confirmed, I had it for the first time in a Catholic church, and I must say I agree with you, it’s some darn good wine 😃

Very strong, I noticed. There was a burn on the way down that I’m not used to from wine. I wonder, in all seriousness, if what makes it so good is that it’s the Precious Blood at that point. 🤷
 
Carlion said:
I had sacramental wine here and there at the Episcopal church I used to attend and never thought much of it. Then two nights ago at Easter Vigil, when I was confirmed, I had it for the first time in a Catholic church, and I must say I agree with you, it’s some darn good wine 😃

Very strong, I noticed. There was a burn on the way down that I’m not used to from wine. I wonder, in all seriousness, if what makes it so good is that it’s the Precious Blood at that point. 🤷
Click to expand...
Want to try some nice sweet wine?
go to a supermarket and go to the jewish foods section.
get a bottle of Mogen David wine. oy, good stuff.
 
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