Wine lovers rejoice! It is now just a tad easier to get wine shipped from your favorite wineries.
Amazon will now ship wine to Michigan addresses.
Selection includes about 200 different bottles from about 30 wineries, including handful of Michigan wineries. Prices range from $10 to $125 a bottle plus shipping, which is $9.99 for up to six bottles of the same wine. So, it seems Amazon is for wine buying in bulk.
Amazon will require a copy of the purchaser's photo I.D. to verify they are over 21.
Shipping wine is a tightly regulated process that requires businesses to have a special license, making it a complicated process for small businesses. Although Amazon will be the ordering platform, shipping will still be done by the individual wineries.
According to Mashable:
The company charges wineries a $39.99 monthly participation fee, plus a 15% cut of every sale, according to a report published by Sonoma’s Wine Industry Insight last year.
Amazon stopped selling wine in late 2009 after its shipping partner, New Vine Logistics, halted operations. When it relaunched its wine division in late 2012, it placed shipping responsibilities in the hands of the wineries themselves.
Amazon's biggest competitor in the space is Wine.com, an online marketplace for wine that offers free shipping on all bottles for $49 per year.
Unfortunately, wine cannot be shipped with Amazon Prime accounts, which offer free shipping on select items.
