Amazon backs away from wine sales

SEATTLE, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. retail giant Amazon.com said its foray into the retail wine business was over before it got to the starting gate.

A spokesperson for the Internet retail giant said, "I can confirm Amazon will not be getting into the wine business. We will not be providing additional details," Seattlepi.com reported Tuesday.

Amazon had discussed the project with vintners extensively and was originally expected to put wines on its retail list in October 2008. Trade journal WineBusiness.com published a company e-mail, however, that said the retailer had decided against offering wines.

"Unfortunate. Apparently the regulatory hurdles were too much," said Marty Clubb, a wine maker at L'Ecole No. 41 in Washington.

"People have no idea how complex this is, dealing with 50 different (state) governments. You wonder if a company like Amazon, which is well organized to sell just about anything, can't pull it off. But wine is different from anything else they are selling," said John Fredrikson, publisher of the Gomberg-Fredrikson Report, a wine industry research firm.