Now on Amazon: Wine

This wine has subtle earth tones and a hint of online shopping. Amazon launched its wine market yesterday, featuring bottles from more than 1,000 domestic brands, ready to ship to a dozen states and Washington, DC, reports the Los Angeles Times. It breaks down the "unusual addition" to Amazon's wares:

• It's good news for winemakers: According to Wine.com, a measly 2% of wine purchases are made online; this could obviously change that.
• So how much is shipping? $9.99 for up to six bottles ... of the same wine. Amazon will serve as middleman, with the wineries themselves doing the shipping. So there's no discount if buyers select wines from a number of wineries, and Amazon Prime rates don't apply.

• The challenge for Amazon: It could leave a bad aftertaste in consumers' mouths if it doesn't offer comprehensive tasting notes and keep up-to-date with the ever-changing wine market, instead of just listing page after page of reds and whites, says one aficionado.
• Are online wine sellers worried? Not according to the Times. They say that the small number of states Amazon can ship to, lack of international wines, and not-dirt-cheap shipping costs will turn away some buyers.

(More Amazon stories.)