First, what makes something kosher for Passover is not that it hasn't risen, but that it hasn't been made from a grain that was wet for more than 18 minutes (so say the rabbis!). The five prohibited biblical grains are wheat, barley, oats, rye, and spelt; Ashnkenazim added fences around the Torah to include corn, rice, beans, etc., and with those even oils and starches and other derivatives, as well as yeast itself. Aging and rising is fine; grains rising from long exposure to water is not. (Cheese and yogurt are OK; non-grain souffles are fine; much alcohol is thus also kosher for passover, including wines and most liquours, though beer and grain alcohols are not). As always, these are the traditional categories; we each follow them in the ways we see fit.
As for year-round kashrut of wines, it's actually counter-intuitive, and even offensive to many. For other foodstuffs, kashrut means avoiding contamination by forbidden ingredients, which is often a good thing. For wines, on the other hand, "kosher" means "uncontaminated by gentiles!" It made sense eons ago, in an era of blood libels and highly specified ritual uses for certain wines, to keep Jewish and gentile production processes apart. Today, some see no extra value in wine being "kosher," and arguably find an ethical value in avoiding it.
With few exceptions, neither pork (year-round) nor bread (Pesach) finds its way into a nice merlot or cabernet—so whatever looks good at Calvert-Woodley is fair game, in many people's estimation (note too a recent tshuvah or responsum in the Conservative movement entitled "the kashrut of all wines"; officially, only Orthodoxy now holds by kosher wine, though individual liberal Jews may prefer a hekhsher). With all that said, there's plenty of Golan & Gamla & Baron Herzog & other decent, affordable bottles of kosher-but-way-better-than-Manischewitz wine out there. And remember to always serve a non-alcoholic grape juice option as well...
Just to clarify, there is no "official" Reconstructionist statement on Pesach, like with most issues. What is key is to apply the Recon method to an issue like this, which balances conflicting values and adjudicates them communally. In brief, here the Recon method weighs tradition and Jewish unity and inclusivity and the power of strict ritual observance on one hand, against health/nutrition and simplicity and respect for Sephardic traditions and desire to keep Pesach popular on the other. Each household and each community makes its own choices: Adat Shalom's is to focus above all on inclusivity by observing a rather strict Ashkenazic standard.
As for the Conservative movement's grappling with this, a leading light of the *Israeli* arm of the movement (called Masorti, meaning 'traditional') issued a tshuvah / responsum on this some five years ago. He argued that, given the preponderance of the Sephardic population in Israel along with the precedents Haya spoke of, it should be OK for all Israeli Jews to eat kitniyot (legumes and rice and other foods eaten by Sephardim but not Ashkenazim) in Israel. Yet within a couple years the watered-down synopsis was making its way along the grapevine as "kitniyot are OK" without qualification. Recently the author issued a statement emphasizing that he meant it to apply only in Israel, and it was up to individual rabbis outside Israel to rule for their communitites.
All this applies not only just to Israel, but just within the Conservative context of rabbinic authority—so don't expect me to make a blanket ruling for Adat Shalom! Communally, we err on the side of caution by adhering to the Ashkenazic standard for the full eight days. Individually, we should each follow the standard that works for us, given the Process described above. Remember that Pesach is celebrated largely through symbolic foods, so the idea of multiple strictures that force us to be highly conscious of our eating makes much sense—and how strict those strictures ought to be is up to you and yours. Enjoy figuring it out for yourselves! And enjoy the quinoa, if not the rice, at your seder/s...
L'shalom,
Rabbi Fred
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