The Jesuit order's Sevenhill Cellars' approach of selling wine directly to Church-goers is a novel approach in the wine industry, reports ABC.Back in the 19th century, priests who arrived in Australia began the country's first Jesuit order and one of the earliest colonial wineries - knowing that the European altar wine they had brought would run out and local sacramental wine must be produced, the report says.
Brother John May, who is now 80, was the winemaker at Sevenhill for more than half his life.
"When I first came here, if we saw a visitor a week we'd knock off and have a yarn," he said.
"Now we see around 30,000-40,000 people per annum."
When Brother John stood down as chief winemaker in 2003, he was the last of the Jesuit winemakers at Sevenhill and was replaced by a young, non-Catholic woman, Liz Heidenreich, who brought her European experience to Australian winemaking.
While originally established as a supplier of religious wines, a big part of Sevenhill's output is now marketed to the wider population.
But general manager Neville Rowe, who is also a non-Jesuit, says altar wine remains a priority.
"Altar wine is the most important part of what we do at Sevenhill. It's about a third of our production," he said.
Demand has dictated that Sevenhill make three types of altar wine, with the traditional sweet red by far the most popular.
The wine is sold to many denominations of the Christian church in Australia, as well as overseas.
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