This coming Easter Sunday, millions of Catholics around the world will celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. But some worshippers celebrating Mass in the San Francisco Bay Area will have a spiritual connection closer to death than others: They will be drinking sacramental wine made from grapes grown in cemeteries.
About 24 churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland will use wine for Mass made from grapes grown in three East Bay cemeteries. The altar wine, bottled under the Bishop’s Vineyard label, is the result of an experiment driven by economics and California’s long drought. Instead of planting grass over bare spots in the cemeteries at a cost of $50,000 an acre, the diocese decided instead in 2006 to plant vines—which only cost $17,000 an acre. The grapes from the vineyards turned out to be so good that the diocese converted them to wine. (Profits from the wine business go into a scholarship fund for needy Catholic students.) [...]
Most churches buy wine based on price, not flavor, which makes sense since parishioners only take a sip or two of wine during Mass. Even the largest churches will only use 20 or 30 cases of wine a year. It’s perhaps the main reason why the altar wine business has not felt the pressure to go upscale in recent years.
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