Comments on: Winery attempts to pull wines from NRA wine club

By: Linkin’ logs 2-2-13 | Decant This! … the wine blog of Bill Ward

Linkin’ logs 2-2-13 | Decant This! … the wine blog of Bill Ward — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 05:33:51 +0000

[...] that its wine were being sold to raise funds for the National Rifle Association and is trying to put the kibosh on [...]

By: Thad McC

Thad McC — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 02:34:09 +0000

Unless we are talking about political views that are truly abhorrent it is undemocratic punish others for their views. Sure, we all may have the right to not not buy from/sell to people with whom we disagree with politically, but if this behavior were widespread democracy would suffer. It would be hard to say that anyone really had a freedom of conscience if their economic livelihood were directly linked to holding widespread political opinions versus minority opinions.

By: Dean

Dean — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 02:31:35 +0000

It is only a matter of time before the NRA switches to a “Buy American” wines philosophy, involving California, Washington and New York, and other states. No imports need apply.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 22:57:35 +0000

I knew Vinesse ran quite a few of my larger competitors clubs, but didn’t realize the NRA had a club until the story broke.

Given the size of some of the other Vinesse run clubs, I have to think that the NRA club ships, well thousands of cases of wine.

At thousands of cases, I HIGHLY doubt they are only working through the 3 tier system to gain access to those wines. I buy direct from wineries instead of through the 3 tier system as my permitting allows because pricing is better for me and my customers-am I suppose to expect that a club many times the size of mine behaves differently?

I just have a hard time believing under closer inspection that these wineries didn’t know.

By: Harry H

Harry H — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 02:44:25 +0000

I am not a fan of NRA either, but bravo Yalumba for using NRA as a publicity stunt to get its name out.

By: WaltD

WaltD — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 22:59:11 +0000

Thanks for a list of wineries l need not buy from! Some us still believe in freedom and personal liberties.

By: Dr. Vino

Dr. Vino — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 20:33:06 +0000

Thanks for the comments here–an interesting discussion.

Just a quick comment to say that someone emailed to let me know that the NRA Wine Club site is no longer displaying the 476 individual wines available.

By: BP

BP — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 16:32:16 +0000

Good to know. They definitely have the right to sell to whom they decide, and I have the right to stop selling Yalumba as well. They have now been removed from my BTG program.

By: Charley

Charley — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 13:51:44 +0000

I will not be purchasing any of their wine…Yalumba’s grapes may be too thin skinned (like their CEO)to produce good wine.

By: nuffer

nuffer — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 01:59:30 +0000

But that’s just not true at the level of this NRA wine club unless buying direct from the winery. Am I missing something?

I don’t even see why this is an issue in the first place, since again, the winery is not endorsing or donating or discounting for the NRA.

By: Thomas Pellechia

Thomas Pellechia — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 00:32:53 +0000

Thanks nuffer, for putting word into my post.

Wineries have a right to stop selling their wine wherever they want to stop selling it. Seriously.

By: nuffer

nuffer — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 22:51:47 +0000

Wineries have a constitutional right to stop wine clubs from purchasing their wines from distributors? Seriously?

They obliviously have a right to put out any sort of press stating that they are not affiliated with certain wine clubs. Wineries could also choose to change their distribution channels.

By: Thomas Pellechia

Thomas Pellechia — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:58:00 +0000

Wineries have a right to do whatever they feel they want to do, and anyone who gets upset about that ought to read the complete Constitution instead of one Amendment. Also, since businesses are people…

Taking a cue from an old campaign, here’s a slogan for the NRA wine club: Don’t drink and shoot.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:24:07 +0000

Rick and Elizabeth,
The fact that Yalumba didn’t know their wines were on the list suggests that most of these people are not “contributors”. I bet 95% of these producers didn’t even know about the NRA wine club until their wine on the list and most are probably as upset at Yalumba.
Don’t get me wrong I’m not supporting the NRA but i think you shouldn’t be so quick to judge.

By: nuffer

nuffer — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:13:01 +0000

Yeah, this is ridiculous. If the wines are not being sold at some special “charity” discount to this wine club then these wineries are in no way affiliated with the NRA one way or the other. This is a non-issue.

May I also add that the Second Amendment to the Constitution exists in America as part of the Bill of Rights, so unless this is a strictly anti-NRA stance rather than a general anti-gun stance it is even more ridiculous as countless other groups and individuals agree that the Second Amendment should not be repealed.