I knew a Christian Brother who told me that during Prohibition their vineyard sold wine to anyone who wanted it, they were exempt from the Act since they made altar wine. I asked him why the Order made wine in the first place, he told me the founder’s mother was a Moet.
Well, having a Moët in the family will do it!
Sacramental wine has always been an out. When the Spanish settled Mexico, the first thing many settlers did was plant wine grapes since the climate was very similar to that of Spain. However, like the US to the Brits, Mexico to the Spanish was a colony or province that could be only a source for raw materials and a market for finished goods. So they couldn’t produce wine, since the Spanish were shipping their own wines to Mexico and competition was not welcome.
But Mexican religious orders could keep on making sacramental wine…and they did!
Mexico is just beginning to develop a wine industry all these centuries later, but they had their own supplies in the meantime. Not very good, but wine nonetheless.