Wine Witch – Fantastic, Affordable Wine Suggestions

There is nothing official from Amazon yet, but word on the street is that the online retailer is going to add wine to its offerings before the year is out. The most recent issue of Wine Spectator reported the story, and I doubt if they would have unless it was a done deal.

There have been other attempts at online wine sales in the past that have not fared too well. One of the biggest obstacles is all the bizantine state laws regarding the shipment of wine. The official line is that lawmakers are concerned about minors getting their hands on the wine if it was delivered to the door. The truth is that wine and liquor distributors are a powerful lobby and direct shipments eliminate their piece of the action.

The whole distribution system is what is at stake here. The winery, the distributor, and the retail outlet each get about one third of the final retail cost. Supposedly in the Amazon model they will be dealing directly with the wineries. This has some interesting possibilities. An entire layer is going to be eliminated and Amazon has a lot of buying power. Hopefully, the end result is better pricing for you and me.

The other major benefit is, assuming Amazon signs up enough wineries, there will be a greater variety of wines available to anyone with a computer. Think of the possibilities. You will no longer be at the mercy of your local package goods store whose deal with the distributor limits what he puts on his shelves.

It may take sometime, but if Amazon is successful, this could be a game changing event like what the internet did to the distribution model of the music industry. Stay tuned. As soon as Amazon goes live, the Wine Witch will try it out and let you know how it goes.

Cheers!

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2. Some Tips to Save on Wine When Dining Out

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