Winery Slammed for Hawking 9/11 Wine

One from the Bad Taste Hall of Fame: A Long Island winery is getting slammed for its decision to release two new wines ... in honor of 9/11. Almost every detail about the wine, as reported by the LA Times, is cringeworthy. The price? $19.11 a bottle. What to expect from Lieb Family Cellars' 9/11 Memorial Commemorative Chardonnay? It finishes "with a toasty vanilla flavor." The marketing? The grapes were grown "90 miles from the site of the World Trade Center"! The chunk of the proceeds that will be donated to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum? Just 6% to 10%.

We'll let others do the poking. Among the colorful reactions:

• The tweet everyone is talking about, courtesy @FDNYEMSwebsite: "What's next a 9/11-themed McRib sandwich made with beef from Pennsylvania cows raised near the Flight 93 Memorial Park?"
• Kim Conte of The Stir thinks it just doesn't make sense: "The anniversary of 9/11 should be a time to remember and honor those who were lost. At what point in the day would it be appropriate to break out the vino?"
• But it sparks an idea for Ben Yakas of Gothamist: "The product has inspired us to follow through on a long-forgotten dream of ours, and create a September 11 memorial malt liquor that you'll never forget: Colt 9/11."

Click to see other 9/11 "memorial" products. (More wine stories.)