NRA Wine Club: Deleted Web Pages Show NRA Profiting From Dom Perignon, Beringer Sale

AMERICAblog has uncovered deleted Web pages showing that the National Rifle Association Wine Club has featured some of the world’s largest wine and champagne companies, including such august spirits as famed French champagne maker Moet et Chandon’s world-renowned Dom Perignon

 The NRA has teamed with a company called Vinesse that works with several wine clubs. In this case, NRA members and others can join the “American Cellars Wine Club,” and reportedly a donation goes to the NRA with each bottle purchased. “Begin supporting the NRA with your wine purchases today!” reads the strapline on the club’s website.”
"There is no such thing as innocent commercial involvement with the National Rifle Association. Any company that advertises or shares revenue with the NRA is underwriting gun violence and has as much blood on its hands as Bushmaster Firearms,” said Tom Diaz, gun industry expert and author of the upcoming book, “The Last Gun.”
NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre makes clear in a letter, since removed from the NRA Wine Club Web site but available here, that sales of Dom Perignon and Beringer via the NRA Wine Club will “directly benefit” the NRA.
The front page of the NRA Wine Club no longer lists any of the actual wineries included in the deal. But a cached copy of the NRA’s wine list can be read here.
Winemakers have begun pulling out of the program. According to Australian newspaper the Herald Sun:
"Yalumba [an Australian winemaker] has quickly distanced itself from the controversial US National Rifle Association after it emerged that it was one of 20 Australian producers sold via the group’s wine club.
The privately owned company is currently investigating how four of Its wines made it onto the NRA’s profit-making club – a donation from every bottle of wine purchased through the club goes to the NRA to support its battle to preserve the Second Amendment."
Other wines being offered via the NRA Wine Club:
Hundreds of wines are available through the site, from a Campo de Borja Garnacha at US$6.99 right up to Joseph Phelps Napa Valley Insignia 2008 at $159.99.
Champagne lovers can pick up Louis Roederer Cristal 2005 at $199.95 a bottle, or Dom Perignon 2003 for $139.99, and weapons enthusiasts might like to pop the cork in traditional style using a Laguiole Champagne sabre ($149.95).