It was big news in e-commerce when Amazon.com decided to launch a wine shop. But even before the shop has started they have decided to close down the wine sale project at Amazon. We haven’t seen an official explanation for it, but industry observers think that it has to do with logistical and regulatory difficulties.
In the USA it is very complicated to sell wines from one state to another. There are many rules and regulations (and different ones in each state) that stipulates how it must be done, sometimes requiring impossible logistics or other restrictive requirements. Unfortunately, since this severely restricts the choice of wine for consumers in many states. The system was created after the prohibition and remains largely in place. It is of course defended by many of the established players, whose positions are protected by it. www.winebusiness.com
