By James Atkinson
Several Australian wineries received a rude shock last week when they discovered their wines were being sold by the NRA Wine Club, a fundraising vehicle for America's controversial gun lobby group, the National Rifle Association.
As many as 20 Australian wineries, including household names like Yalumba, Tahbilk, St Hallett, d'Arenberg and Jim Barry Wines, were among those with products listed for sale on the NRA Wine Club website, which has since hidden its wine range from the view of non-members.
Also removed from the website was the club's promise to gun-loving wine drinkers: "Now you can support the Second Amendment with every wine you buy."
A screen grab of the NRA Wine Club site as it previously appeared
There's no suggestion that any of the wineries knowingly had their wines listed on the site.
St Hallett Wines marketing manager Matthew Roberts told TheShout the winery was looking into the incident.
"It is certainly not a purposeful support of a political cause. As far as we are aware at this stage the Club is being managed by a third party wine club management company that purchases wine from one of our wholesalers," he said.
"Therefore, due to the three-tier (in this instance four-tier) system in the US, we have had no visibility into these sales. While we would like to ensure St Hallett wines are represented in channels that align to our values we need to investigate and understand the American legal system as it relates to this matter," said Roberts.
Yalumba managing director Robert Hill-Smith said he did not want Yalumba associated with the gun lobby and would act to withdraw its stock, according to News Limited reports.