Amazon.com has ended a trial program to sell wine online, the company confirmed. The wine sales pilot, which the e-commerce giant launched last year, was intended to sell wine from California's Napa Valley and other U.S. regions. An Amazon spokesman declined to give details about why the company ended the program. The end of the program may have been related to financial troubles at partner New Vine Logistics, which had been tapped to handle shipments for Amazon. Over the summer, that company suspended operations amid financial problems, but then later got new investment from Inertia Beverage Group.
I had met a guy here (Florence) in June who said his company was the logistics partner for Amazon and that they were already selling wine online - I had told me I didn't think that was the case yet - I think I was right :)
Anyway - is this news good, bad, etc? I think it is a little bit of the sign of the times - if there was strong demand, I think Amazon would have found a way forward, with or without New Vine (especially since Inertia has now assumed New Vine's operation). But the facts are that we are in a wine glut, demand on the top end is weak, and due to expansion and technology there is jut a ton of wine in the world. It is great news for most consumers, but weak news overall for the wine economy.
wine glut; in Italy and in the US warehouses, importers, wholesalers retailers wine lists.