Why Non-Jewish Wine Is Forbidden

In the laws of yayin nesech printed at the end of Gevuros Hashem, the Maharal explained that although the prohibition is rabbinic, the rabbis were stricter with it than with some Torah prohibitions, since they forbade even any benefit from such wine. The main reason for the decree, he wrote, was to prevent intermarriage and assimilation, so that Klal Yisroel would remain a separate nation and not be like the nations around it. He was pained to see people making Kiddush and Havdalah on such wine, and even drinking it for the Four Cups at the Seder. This, he said, erases the very difference between Yisroel and the nations that the redemption from Egypt created, since the four cups correspond to the four expressions of redemption.