Palin Syrah, a Chilean wine, has been getting all the wrong sorts of publicity as potential buyers would rather not drink something that reminds them of pigs, pitbulls, or Jesus-mandated pipeline driller Sarah Palin:

Palin Syrah — pronounced Pay-LEEN — takes its name from a ball used in a Chilean-style hockey game, and it has been on the bar’s wine list for a while. But sales have plummeted ever since John McCain named Sarah Palin to be his running mate.

That is… something of a coincidence, no? The name, the hockey. The lingering taste of pine needles and caribou dung:

Each wine on the Yield Wine Bar’s list has a description, and Palin Syrah is described as: tastes of “white pepper” and “madrone” - an evergreen found in the Pacific Northwest.

But sales haven’t plummeted everywhere. Sure, humorless liberals won’t buy it:

Now that the wine has been unofficially blacklisted by San Franciscans, its place on Yield Wine Bar’s list is threatened. “I think people try to see the humor in it, but we’re in San Francisco, so most of the people we have in I’m going to suspect are fairly liberal. People like to joke about it, but for some people it evokes quite a visceral reaction.”

It’s also not made of organically-grown fennel seeds or whatever. People who have sex with their cousins, however, simply can’t get enough:

In Houston, Palin Syrah has been flying off the shelves at Cepage Noir Wine Company. The store, in the Republican stronghold of Texas, once had cases stacked 20 high, but now only 74 bottles remain.

From our own admittedly limited wine-drinking experience, we definitely advise against drinking things reminiscent of famous people. The worst thing we’ve ever drunk (and, keep in mind, we’ve happily demolished whiskey shots that cost about five cents) was something called a “Marilyn Merlot.” It tasted like stale cigarettes, asphalt and, perhaps inappropriately, like mummified vagina. So just, you know. Drink with caution.

PALIN SYRAH: WINE DRINKERS BALK AT A CHILEAN WINE WITH HINTS OF ALASKA [Fox]