A wine for all faiths

Passover, which starts at sundown Wednesday, requires participants to drink four glasses of wine.

In the past, that usually meant a bottle of Manischewitz. But as the selection of kosher wines grew more sophisticated, the syrupy vintage largely vanished from Seder tables. Now it apparently has found its way to another religious ritual: Communion.

"Manischewitz is sweet and inexpensive and so suits most people," Rev. Fred Schott of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Kendall Park, N.J., told The Jewish Week, a New York-based community newspaper.

In the Chicago area, no one seems to know whether kosher Communion wine is gaining momentum, because each church orders its own. At Holy Name Cathedral, for example, Catholics sip the Monastic label, which carries a special seal of approval by Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles and is produced for Schaumburg-based Monk's Wine and Candles company.

Kosher wines, too, must meet exacting standards for Passover, the eight-day holiday that celebrates the Jewish people's exodus from slavery in Egypt. But that's not enough, experts say, noting that the observant also want the freedom to choose a dry Riesling or a racy sauvignon.

The Centerra Wine Co., makers of Manischewitz, has no idea how much of the bottom line comes from one of Christianity's most holy sacraments.

"We just don't track our sales that way," said spokeswoman Laurie Schaefer.

But Rabbi Steven Bob of Congregation Etz Chaim of DuPage County said, "I think they'd say Moses is Moses and business is business."