Sacramental wine exempted from excise duty in UP

Lucknow Jan 4 (UNI) The Uttar Pradesh government today decided to exempt excise duty on import of sacramental wine used during Christian religious functions.

The state cabinet has approved the exemption during its meeting this afternoon.

According to official sources, as sacramental wine -- imported from Goa -- is used particularly for religious purposes, the government decided to exempt it from excise duty.

Sacramental wine or altar wine is a wine prepared for use in Christian liturgy as part of the celebration of the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper.

While this is generally the meaning of the term, there are other non-christian faiths which make use of this wine in their ceremonies, including Wicca and other Pagan faiths.

Symbolically, in Christian ceremonies, the wine represents the Blood of Jesus Christ, and as a result ideally will be red to accentuate this.

The sacramental wine must be natural, made from grapes on the vine, and not corrupt. This means that the wine must be naturally fermented with nothing added to it, and the wine itself cannot have spoiled or become vinegar, nor can it have anything artifical added to it (preservatives, flavours).

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