(MarketWatch) - The bottle: Purple Heart red wine, $19.99

The back story: A glass of wine as an expression of patriotic pride? It might seem like a stretch, but that’s the concept behind Purple Heart, a new label from California-based C. Mondavi & Family winemakers. The idea was borne from the company’s longtime support of military charities, which itself stemmed from the fact that company patriarch, the late Peter Mondavi, Sr., was a World War II veteran. “We were looking for a way to take our support to the next level,” says Paul Englert, a Mondavi vice president. The result: C. Mondavi partnered with the Purple Heart Foundation, which funds a variety of veterans programs, on creating a Purple Heart-themed wine, tying the vino to one of the nation’s highest military honors. C. Mondavi will contribute $10,000 to $50,000 annually to the foundation, depending on the wine’s sales.

As for the wine, it’s sourced from Napa Valley and is a Bourdeaux-style blend, heavy on the Merlot with a little Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot in the mix. The goal was to create something very approachable: C. Mondavi execs figure the bottle will draw interest from sophisticated and casual sippers alike, so they didn’t want to push the boundaries of complexity. “We wanted a wine that would be a crowd-pleaser,” says Englert, who notes that 7,500 cases of the wine were produced in this inaugural year of its release. By next year, he anticipates that will double to 15,000. “It’s doing well in the marketplace,” Englert adds.