You’ve Got to Fight

For Your Right . . .

Drinking wine can be a political act--at least at the Tucson restaurant Anthony’s in the Catalinas, a sort of safe haven for controversial wines. First, sommelier Dale Sparks educates his customers; a statement on the wine list reads: “(The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) has stripped wineries . . . of their First Amendment rights (for) freedom of speech by censoring wine labels and refusing to allow positive, truthful statements about wine’s role in society. . . .” Next, wine drinkers are invited to do the right thing--choose wines “from wineries whose labels or promotional material have been censored, banned or manipulated.” So far, these include:

* Robert Mondavi, which had a back-label statement squelched because it said wine was recommended in the Bible;

* Leeward Winery in Oxnard, which had a newsletter banned for printing an article that said scientific evidence shows that moderate consumption of wine could lower the risk of heart disease;

* Clos Pegase, which had a label featuring a Jean Dubuffet painting censored because it was an abstract of a nude man.

One customer told Sparks, “It reminds me of First Amendment class in law school.”