SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ:AMZN)—Amazon.com, Inc. today announced the launch of Amazon Wine (www.amazon.com/wine), a marketplace offering customers more than a thousand wines crafted by wineries around the country. The new store features easy-to-use shopping tools to help customers explore great wines and offers access to rich details directly from winemakers, such as tasting notes, recommended food pairings and total case production.
“Whether it’s helping customers find a favorite varietal, shop for holiday pairings or expand their cellar with a special hand-crafted bottle, we’re excited to provide the right tools and information needed to guide them to the perfect wine,” said Peter Faricy, Vice President, Amazon Marketplace. “We’re thrilled for wineries around the country to share their great collections of wines with our customers through the Amazon Wine Store.”
“People love to explore wine, but it is rare to have detailed information and opinions located all in one place,” said Tom Hedges of Hedges Family Estate, Red Mountain, Wash. “What Amazon has done with their new wine store is take the experience of hundreds of tasting rooms and put them online. We could not be more excited by the possibilities of growing our business and reaching new customers.”
Starting today, customers can ship up to six bottles of their favorite wine for $9.99. At launch, shipping will be available to California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and the District of Columbia, with more coming soon. Customers can find more information about shipping at www.amazon.com/wineshipping.
Wine-Country Selection
Customers who want access to wine-country selection can now explore a wide assortment of tasting room favorites in the comfort of their homes. From the classic Napa Cab to the Grüner Veltliner, Amazon Wine features a broad selection for any aficionado’s tastes. Customers will find popular go-to picks like the Francis Ford Coppola Winery 2011 Rosso & Bianco red blend Rosso for $12, premium wines like the Hall 2009 Kathryn Hall Cabernet Sauvignon for $110 and iconic wines such as the Mark Ryan Winery 2010 Dead Horse Cabernet Sauvignon for $55. In addition, customers can explore wines from wineries of all sizes, including family-owned and operated Roadhouse Winery in Sonoma County that only produces 3,000 cases a year of their hand-crafted Pinot Noir as well as the vast 650-acre Flora Springs Winery and Vineyards in the heart of Napa Valley.
Easy Search and Discoverability
Amazon Wine product pages provide customers a vast amount of information all in one place. Customers can learn about the wine’s American Viticultural Area (AVA), composition, percentage of alcohol and much more. In addition, product pages feature robust details directly from winemakers, including tasting notes, food pairing suggestions and total case production. For example, winemaker Jean-François Pellet of Pepper Bridge Winery provides a detailed description for customers interested in the Pepper Bridge Winery 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon. He describes it as “broad and supple” with classic Cabernet Sauvignon characteristics of dark fruits intertwined harmoniously with savory, earthy notes of cocoa, coffee, clove and toast. To experience more flavors, Pellet suggests pairing it with beef, lamb or chocolate.
When customers shop on Amazon Wine, they can narrow search results to meet their personal tastes, enabling them to discover new wines and find long-time favorites. For instance, customers can select multiple filters such as “90 & Up” for Professional Rating, “Cherry” for Tasting Note, and “Sierra Foothills” for Winery Location.
Expansive Collection of Wineries
Amazon Wine caters to wineries of all sizes – from those that have large, robust tasting rooms to those that have no tasting rooms at all. The new store aims to connect great wines with great customers.
“We’re excited to connect wineries to the millions of Amazon customers who enjoy the convenience of shopping online,” said Faricy. “In working with wineries, we’ve learned the incredible passion they have for making great wines and look forward to helping them reach customers who previously would not have had access to their brands.”
“We don’t have a tasting room so we rely on word of mouth to reach new customers,” said Elaine Blackaby of Eden Canyon Vineyards, Creston, Calif. “Now we are so excited to finally bring a tasting room experience online, where we can tell our story and share details about our wines that we’ve never been able to. Amazon Wine is truly a game changer for the small winery that is off the beaten path!”
Wineries interested in selling on Amazon Wine can learn more at http://go.amazonservices.com/wine.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the most-advanced e-reader ever constructed with 62% more pixels and 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, extra-long battery life, and a thin and light design. The new latest generation Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, now features new, improved fonts and faster page turns. Kindle Fire HD features a stunning custom high-definition display, exclusive Dolby audio with dual stereo speakers, high-end, laptop-grade Wi-Fi with dual-band support and dual-antennas/MIMO for 40% faster throughput than other tablets, enough storage for HD content, and the latest generation processor and graphics engine—and it is available in two display sizes—7” and 8.9”. The large-screen Kindle Fire HD is also available with 4G wireless, and comes with a groundbreaking $49.99 introductory 4G LTE data package. The all-new Kindle Fire features a 20% faster processor, 40% faster performance, twice the memory, and longer battery life.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, and www.amazon.es. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.