What you saw a lot this last year in the wine business was that due to COVID putting a severe strain on the restaurant industry, a lot of those wineries that focused most or all of their efforts in the restaurant sector all of a sudden had a large supply of wine with no place for it to go. There are many wines that wineries would historically say were "restaurant only" and even then, only the top restaurants. So then a lot of of these wines were all of a sudden being offered to key retailers so that wineries could move through inventory knowing that the next vintage would be released soon. Wineries were making pitches to Costco that would never allow Costco to sniff their inventory before. Wine clubs became another great avenue to move inventory, and that usually comes with a more aggressive cost. Not exactly sure if that is the case with Emmolo Merlot, but $30 seems pretty aggressive from a small family wine shop.
On another note:
I have a friend who frequents Underground Cellar. I am not sure how it all works but my understanding is there are lots you can blindly buy and every once in a while the slip in a rare bottle. They fucking shipped him a bottle of DRC Richebourg 2016. Kermit Lynch has it listed for $2400. He doesn't even know where to start as far as trying to sell it.