NPR wants to be in your ear and in your wineglass.
National Public Radio has launched its own wine club with three red varietals inspired by its programming: an All Grapes Considered malbec, a Weekend Edition cabernet sauvignon and an NPR Uncorked merlot.
The public media organization is offering all three as a one-time bonus to listeners and oenophiles who place an order for customizable cases of 12 wines delivered every three months. One shipment costs $79.99.
NPR supporters who like to sip vino while listening to Robert Siegel’s soothingly authoritative voice can also buy individual bottles on the NPR Wine Club’s website.
A portion of proceeds will go directly to the news organization, according a news release published Tuesday morning.
Tasting notes for the club’s first three NPR-inspired wines suggest that the All Grapes Considered will introduce drinkers to “must-try” malbec grape varieties “in the spirit of NPR’s flagship afternoon news program”; the Weekend Edition, “serious, authoritative, but capable of providing moments of pure delight,” should be enjoyed “with good friends, rich foods and a lively discussion of the week’s events”; and the Uncorked merlot, a grape “unfairly maligned in the 2004 movie ‘Sideways,’” is as much an underdog as public radio.
NPR isn’t the first media business to get into the grape game: In 2009, The New York Times announced a similar wine club initiative, offering members six-bottle shipments every one, two or three months.