When a proud, unapologetic liberal reviews our wine...

I emailed Paul Johnson to express my interest, and he informed me that, like me, he was visiting Manhattan. He left me four bottles of wine at his hotel, which I hid in a dark tote bag before getting on the subway.

I brought the wines, which sell for about $45 each and are made in Monterey, California, to my mom’s house in New Jersey. My mother is such a Democrat that she calls the MSNBC anchors her friends. She knows a lot about their private lives, but not nearly as much as she knows about Donald Trump. She thinks about Donald Trump more often than Melania Trump does.

I poured my mom the Liberty Bell merlot, keeping the bottle hidden.

“It’s pleasant. It’s flat to me,” she said.

This was not surprising, since my mom’s attitude about wine is very American: the bigger and redder the better. So I poured her the Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon, which I thought was pretty good.

It was a huge hit with my mom. “It’s fruit-forward. I like it. It has a good finish,” she said. “I like old vines. It’s a great wine for me.”

Then I handed her the bottle.

“I like the label,” she said.

A few minutes and many sips later, I asked her to read the label carefully.

“No, I don’t like the label. It looked pretty from afar. It’s some kind of army thing,” she said. Her husband Mike explained the portrait. “Oh, I like it better now. It’s Washington crossing the Delaware.”

I asked her to read the label even more carefully.

“Oh, I am sick. I hate this wine. I’m going to pour it down the toilet,” she said.

Then she pointed to the notes I was taking. “Why don’t you write that it was terrible? And that everyone hated it?” she suggested. “The nerve of them putting Washington on the label. They think they’re PAT-RI-OTS!? I’m not drinking the rest of this.”

Then she drank some more.

I called Paul Johnson, the founder of Republican Red, to ask him why he was doing this to my mom. He’s a charming, funny guy. His grandfather was an Okie who came to Steinbeck country during the Great Depression. His dad was the first to plant a commercial vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands there. He took over the farming business, and like most of California’s agricultural workers, grew up conservative.

When he felt California regulations were squeezing the small wine grower out, he leased the land to a large company, went to business school at Santa Clara, and during the 2020 presidential campaign, launched Republican Red.

“I wanted a way for conservatives to signal their values without a loud hat or a screaming eagle shirt. I wanted something a little more subtle that invited conversation rather than yelling it,” he said. “I had such a frustration with how conservatives are portrayed as if we’re just a bunch of heartless bigots.”

This didn’t seem like a great business idea, like selling Republican Red Oatmilk. But he’s sold bottles to more than 100,000 people.

I asked Paul if conservatives have a different palate he caters to. “It needs to taste like Natural Light,” he explained. “No! People like good wine. Republicans don’t have a different fucking palate. Their mouths work the same as liberals’.”

Paul hopes that the wines not only inspire camaraderie among Republicans but also lead people from the left and right to have civil conversations over dinner. This is not something alcohol is famous for doing, but he has hope.

Although he’s had a lot of ideas, Paul is avoiding any marketing efforts that denigrate liberals. Or even offend them. “The Epic fury cabernet sauvignon can be offensive to some, but I try to go into how conservatives approach this, which is peace through strength. It’s meant to open up a conversation about when is the right time to use our military,” he told me.

I like Paul. I like his Cabernet Sauvignon. I hope that Paul’s party soon becomes as decent as his wine.

The Corrupt Wine Writer is a reader-supported publication. Consider sending it wine.

So there you have it — proof that a Republican winery and a self-described Corrupt Wine Writer can share a bottle, a laugh, and even a few unexpected compliments, without anyone having to change their voter registration. If more disagreements went this way, the news media would be a lot less sensational and a lot more informative. We hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed living it — and if Joel's mom's verdict on the label didn't scare you off, our featured wines from the piece are below and ready for your own dinner table debates.

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