Hitler Wines Seized In Italy

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Sep 28th 2007 at 11:02AM

An Italian company which specializes in labeling their wine with the pictures of infamous historical figures is in trouble again. Decanter reports that Italian police have confiscated bottles of wine with labels depicting Hitler and other Nazis. The wines from Vini Lundardelli is part of their 'Der Führer' line which feature a variety of labels portraying various figures associated with Nazi Germany. The bottles were seized because they represent a 'a glorification of the perpetrators of crimes against humanity', according to the Agence France Presse.

Decanter has a quote from Andrea Lunardelli, marketing and distribution director, who says that the move was a marketing strategy (other labels include Che Guevara, Napoleon and Mussolini) and that the Hitler labels were requested by customers in Germany and Austria. The Hitler wines are still for sale through the Vini Lundarelli website (as shown by the screen capture above) and the case is currently with the company's lawyers.

This is far from the first time the wines have caused controversy. There was a major outcry in 2003 at which time Alessandro Lunardelli said that the Hitler wines were the most popular in the series, selling around 30,000 bottles a year.

Tags: decanter, hitler, vini lundarelli, wine

Filed under: Wine

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

D. Trott Sep 28th 2007 2:24PM

Regarding your recent item reporting on Italian "Hitler Wine", please note that we have tried this vintage and are able to report the following:
This wine is exceedingly bold, with a very bitter after-taste. Doesn't go well with Russian food, completely dominates French cuisine, but can be successfully paired with pasta or sushi. Palette can best be cleansed with U.K. malt whiskeys and, especially, American domestic brews.
Hitler wine has a full bodied taste with hints of blackcurrant, leather, gunpowder, steel, brick, and burnt wood. "This is a bottle with a message in it, and the message is 'beware'. This is not a wine for drinking, this is a wine for laying down and avoiding."
Ultimately its taste will die in the cellar. Even so, this vintage may occasionally still be found in rural South American cafes.

Cindy. Jan 3rd 2008 12:47AM

[…]Si tratta di una bottiglia con un messaggio in essa, e il messaggio è "attenti". Questo non è un vino da bere, questo è un vino che stabilisce e per evitare ".
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