Comments on: Fairtrade communion wine

By: Seven whole days » Fair Trade Fortnight

Seven whole days » Fair Trade Fortnight — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:25:36 +0000

[...] I also learned that there is Fair Trade communion wine. This knowledge came from Dave Walker, who apparently has interests beyond drawing. It would seem like a supremely bad thing to say all the words we say at the Eucharistic prayer and then consecrate things that are bad for people and God’s creation. So maybe we should be looking into Fair Trade wine. [...]

By: pete hobson

pete hobson — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:21:29 +0000

Our church in Leicester went over to using fairtrade communion wine as part of our contribution to being a fairtrade diocese in 2005. It seemed a blindingly obvious thing to do! We use fairtrade wine from the co-op – did Jesus have special commuinon wine at the last supper? There’s a picture of me celebrating the fair-tradedness of it at our church’s communion table which I might be able to send you!

By: Francis Peel

Francis Peel — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:11:43 +0000

All details about Poterion Fairtrade Communion wine will be available on http://www.poterionfairtrade.co.uk – live from 22nd February.

By: rob

rob — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:12:50 +0000

Communion wine doesn’t have to taste like cough mixture, though it often does. Usually because it’s fortified – like sherry and port – to prevent an opened bottle from spoiling. Some years ago, the communion wine supplier of the church I worked for retired and we persuaded him to reveal his source. It was a re-labelled “British ruby wine” – which used to be called “British Ruby Port” before the days when port had to come from Portugal.
ASDA sell a Los Robles Fairtrade wine – not ‘communion’ but not bad.

By: Russ

Russ — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 09:44:09 +0000

Does anybody make their own? Just wondered …

By: joe

joe — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:18:53 +0000

Actually, it is not as obvious as you might think regarding carbon friendly-ness.

Sea freight produces significantly less carbon per tonne transported than road transport (something like 50 times less) so it is entirely possible that a lorry from Spain produces more carbon than a freighter from Chile. Life cycle analysis for food products is an extremely difficult job – it all depends on what you measure.

The ideal scenario, of course, is using a local English wine – or better still something we can actually produce easily. Like a nice cider or blackcurrant wine.

Regarding communion wine, my understanding is that the main criteria is that it should taste like cough mixture. Our church has used standard fairtrade wine for some time – indeed, I’m a bit surprised if others haven’t also.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:51:03 +0000

Good points – I’ve added them to the post.

By: dom

dom — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:33:30 +0000

Thank you for putting this up dave; I agree with Peter though – non-fortified wines are also suitable for eucharistic use. In addition, this wine is being shipped from Chile, which is less carbon-friendly than, say, using Italian or Spanish fortifieds.

Nit picking… what a moral maze!

By: Peter Kirk

Peter Kirk — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:12:44 +0000

What is it, apart from the label, which makes this wine a communion wine, and the many fairtrade wines previously available not communion wines?