As you may have heard, Amazon.com is poised to enter the online wine world with a launch slated for October. The company is presently in discussion with various wineries, including many from the Napa Valley, to sign up to participate. The Napa Valley Vintners organization has been presenting seminars to assist their members with this process.

Amazon plans to sell wine to consumers in 26 states, given the legal restrictions for shipping wine in the others. In this regard, they have partnered with New Vine Logistics, which has wine shipping expertise, to fulfill orders.

Further along the fulfillment issue are the shipping & handling charges. I generally purchase wine online through local retailers, thus avoiding shipping charges. However, Amazon has stated that it will waive shipping charges if customers participate in their Amazon Prime program, which costs $79.00 annually. This benefit is a huge savings for consumers given the high expenses usually associated with shipping wine due its weight and neccessity to use particular carriers to ensure compliance with interstate shipping laws. E-tailer Wine.com charges a base rate of $9.95 plus $1.25/bottle, making the shipping expense for a case of wine $24.95.

Amazon’s suggestions as to which products a consumer may also like based on their current selection may not work in the wine sector as people’s taste preferences are so varied. But, perhaps it may nudge consumers to try new wines they might not buy otherwise.

Currently, online wine sales account for only 7% of the $2.8 billion in retail wine sales. With Amazon as the largest global online retailer, it will be interesting to watch whether these statistics increase dramatically as a result of their market participation.