http://time.com/money/4846857/amazon-wine-next/
WTF???
Itās the trader joes / Aldi method. Contract with a brand to produce āprivate labelā goods on par with brand name but with distinct packaging. Sell these for less than brand name, and make it obvious but not explicit on the packaging which brand the label is targeting.
If your private label product is literally (the good kind) the same stuff as the brand name, consumers will hopefully clue in and buy Bezos Special Reserve Chardonnay for $1.50 rather than Trader Joeās Two Buck Chuck (which is probably up to 3 these days)
And if one supplier decides to stop, no problem, you get a different one. Most people arenāt REALLY as picky or sensitive as they think they are. A good percentage wonāt notice the difference at all.
They already do this extensively with tech accessories (amazon cables, laptop stands, phone cases, etc. that are almost-but-not-quite clones of other brands that pop up when you search for stuff. I canāt see why they wouldnāt do the same for food.
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Iām sincerely curious about your reaction to this.
This is the dawn of monopolistic capitalism , I guess. One name sells all.
Itās not low end. The article says the Pinot Gris will be $20 and the Pinot Noir $40, which is more than King Estateās own wines sell for.
Amazonās not actually involved in this, itās a private label King Estate created to sell on Amazon.
To a certain degree, @lectoid is correct, though incorrect in his description of the āTrader Joeās model.ā
Considering I canāt remember the last time I bought a bottle of wine at Trader Joeās, and have no intention of ever purchasing wine though Amazon ā let alone, a wine from its own private label ā this doesnāt affect me directly. But Iām sure it would have some appear to some people . . . .
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AS AN ASIDE: remember that Trader Joeās (herein after referred to as āTJsā) began in Pasadena (Southern California) as a food and wine retailer. And while all food is packaged and sold under TJās various private labels (Trader Joeās, Trader Giuseppeās, Trader Darwinās, etc.), alcoholic beverages were always a mix of famous brand names (e.g.: Robert Mondavi, Mummās, Louis Jadot), control labelsĀ¹ (e.g.: Chateau Cache Phloe Bordeaux, Domaine Jean Deaux Macon-Villages), private labelsĀ² (Trader Joeās Cabernet), as well as close-outs on previous vintages or discontinued items they sold for a song (āWas $25, now only $12.99!ā). The only thing thatās changed since the 1960s is the volume that passes through TJs.
Ā¹ A control label is owned by the winery/producer, who sells a retailer the exclusive rights to use that label for āxā period of time ā perhaps for a single vintage, or five vintages, etc.
Ā² A private label is usually (but not always) owned by the retailer, and no one else can use it, period. Some exceptions exist. Liquor Barn had a label āAshland Park.ā Liquor Barn owned the rights to the label in perpetuity (i.e.: a Private Label), but only for wines sold within California and Arizona. The supplier wanted to use the label for wines to be sold in other states (i.e.: a Control Label).
Itās not Amazonās private label. King Estate created an Amazon-only second label for its own reasons.
https://www.kingestate.com/wines/release/2015-king-estate-willamette-valley-domaine-pinot-gris
South Pasadena, actually 
Iād argue (probably successfully) that another thing that has changed was the variety of close outs / discontinued items was far greater, when they only had a few dozen stores to stock. (I once bought this āI never heard of itā raspberry liqueur that was part of my annual Thanksgiving cranberry sauce until ā¦ well, until I ran out of it.)
Back to more specifically the topic at hand, Iām sure Martha Stewart is breathing just a very tad easier knowing that Amazon hasnāt launched its own line.
Wente makes a wine, called Entwine, that is an exclusive contractual arrangement with The Food Network. It carries the Food Network logo on the bottle and is produced and sold by Wente. Next seems to be something very much like that, except that Entwine is sold through multiple retailers and Next is sold exclusively by Amazon.
I donāt see where either scenario has anything to do with whether Wente or King sell similar wines under their own label. The wines in the bottles may or may not be from the same sourcing and production. Usually NOT Iād think.
Next is not a private label. The story was wrong.
Amazon doesnāt sell or ship it. King Estates does. Why they created a second label theyāre selling only on Amazon, who knows.
Absolutely right! As TJs grew, their ādependencyā on close-outs at great prices diminished, and now they are virtually non-existent. The low prices come from large purchases of current products . . .
There was always a problem when it came to selling TJs close-outs in the early days (1970s and '80s): how could you sell your current (e.g.) Chardonnay for $15, when TJs had your previous vintage ā which was a) still delicious, and b) a distinction something 98% of customers wouldnāt even notice ā for $6.99???
Or, as many a winery said at this time, āClose-outs? This is why God invented Texas.ā
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