Fine Wine?

I've noticed an odd new marketing trend which has popped up a lot in recent weeks.  I keep getting and/or seeing offers for bulk wine purchase at supposedly huge discounts.  I've gotten at least two such offers from my credit card companies, one in the mail, one with a magazine I subscribe to, and I've even seen a variation offered on Groupon.

The basic setup is you get 12 bottles for around $60, plus tax and about $20 for shipping.  So all in you pay around $85-90.  Divide that by 12 and you're paying about $7 a bottle for wine.  I think a few of them may have cost a little more, but in general it totals to under $100.  And each of these "deals" is advertised as giving you a savings of around $100, since the supposed retail price is $150+.

Whether this is a deal you are interested in depends on your consumption of and taste in wine.  I haven't yet taken advantage of it, but that could change.  But what's really interesting to me is why all these "wine clubs" seem to have sprung up in the last few months.  Is there a glut of unsold wine which dealers are eager to get rid of?  Are inventories really so high?  I suppose it possible, if wine consumption has gone down with the economy.  Wine doesn't necessarily go bad, at least not quickly, but it does take up space and eventually you have to move product.  It would make sense as the driving force behind all these "clubs" and deals.

Looking at another issue, is there really so much profit margin built into the wine business that they can cut their prices in half and still be economically viable?  And are all these supposedly independent wine clubs actually being run by the same distributors?  I mean, I seriously doubt that the New York Times has gotten into the wine selling business, they probably are just putting their name on it and taking a cut.  So what's the story?