WORSHIPPERS at Manchester cathedral will get the chance to decide whether the church switches to Fairtrade communion wine.

Those attending services this Sunday will get the chance to sample the drink, which claims to be the first ethically-produced communion wine in the world.

The amber tipple, which at a potent 15 per cent alcohol volume is stronger than most table wines, could become a regular fixture if worshippers give it their approval.

The Poterion wine, produced by the Los Robles vineyard in Chile, was described as a "sweet but tangy with a slight aftertaste" has already been adopted by a number of Church of England parishes in other parts of the country.

The cathedral normally offers a French-made communion wine but early tastings of the rival product have proved positive.

In the Anglican tradition, the drinking of wine recreates Jesus' last supper and symbolises the spilling of his blood.

Fair trade producers are certified as giving a reasonable return to local farmers and producers of goods. Cash raised from sales of the wine, which costs £5 a bottle, have already supported a range of projects in Chile, including the purchase of a school bus, house repairs and health insurance.

Parishioners

Some parishioners got a sneak preview of the drink during a tasting session at the cathedral yesterday.

Rogers Govender (pictured), dean of the cathedral, said he was confident that his parishioners would prefer the new drink and suggested that other parishes in the diocese may also want to switch.

He said "The diocese has been a Fairtrade Diocese since 2006. During Fairtrade Fortnight we are sampling the world's first fair-trade communion wine to see whether our clergy and parishes might want to switch to Fairtrade wine too."

The clergyman said he and his staff would talk with churchgoers after each of the services to gauge their reaction before making a decision.

Francis Peel, from Whitebridge Wines which imports the drink from South America to the UK, said there was an increasing interest among churches in sourcing wine.

He said: "Our aim is to provide churches around the country with an ethically sourced, well-made, and high-quality communion wine. The wine is made from a blend of premium Chilean grapes, Semillon and Merlot, grown in Chile's leading fair-trade winery in the Curicó valley."

The wine was being trialled as part of the national Fairtrade Fortnight scheme.