In a nod to the increasing popularity of wine outside of the snobbery set, internet retail giant Amazon.com announced they will begin selling wine as early as October. Napa Valley Vintners, the non-profit marketing arm of this region, has even started workshops to teach wineries (typically stuck in the nineteenth century) how this internet thingie works.
According to Reuters, total U.S. wine sales in 2007 were between $30 billion and $32 billion and it looks like Amazon wants a piece of that. The strictly domestic (for now) wine selection will be sold to 26 different states, and, lucky us, Florida is one of them. The logistics of navigating each state's murky alcohol law morass has been outsourced to Napa-based New Vine Logistics. Now I'm really curious if the choices will be what we can already find on the shelves at Publix and Total Wine, or will it be more interesting? Stay tuned. More information here.
This article appears in Sep 10-16, 2008.