(Fortune) - Sam's Club wants in on the wine boom.

The Wal-Mart Stores-owned wholesale club chain is launching its first ever house brand wines this year, with its eyes firmly on the bonanza reaped by archrival Costco Wholesale (cost, +0.13%), the largest wine retailer in the country.

Sam's, which operates some 650 U.S. clubs, recently introduced an $8 Chardonnay from California's central coast under its Member's Mark store brand, and this year will start selling a Cabarnet from Napa Valley, a prosecco and a champagne under that label as part of an initiative announced on Wednesday. (Sam's already sells wine, just not under its own brands.)

The wine, along with a push to add premium, gourmet foods like olive oil from Italy and handcrafted caramels, are part of Sam's Club's efforts to upgrade its store brands. Costco's Kirkland brand, which includes well regarded wines, spans a wide variety of products and generates some 20% in annual sales and is one of the key weapons Costco has used to regularly outperform Sam's Club's sales growth for several years.