|  According to a report in wine-searcher.com, there has been a rising interest in fine wines beyond Bordeaux. August is considered a quiet month with most Europeans taking their annual holidays and trading on the London-based fine-wine platform Liv-ex taking a hit. However, Tuscany's finest Super Tuscan wines bucked the trend, witnessing a flurry of trading activity and higher prices.
Market’s major movers in the last month have been reportedly from Tuscany. The 2009 vintage of Ornellaia from Frescobaldi and the 2007 vintage of Tignanello produced by Antinori saw the largest price rises on Liv-ex in August, increasing by 13 percent and 10.9 percent respectively, mentions the report.
Liv-ex Cellar Watch Market Report goes back further during the last 5-year trading and indicates that the Super Tuscan Index has risen more than 48 percent, outgrowing the Liv-ex 50 by more than 30 percent. The recent spike is thus a reflection of this trend, in part.
The jump in prices is also being attributed to the publication of excellent reviews from former Wine Advocate critic Antonio Galloni who specializes in Italian wines. He now does independent rating through his subscription-based company vinousmedia.com. He left Wine Advocate as Robert parker sold off the majority shares to a Singapore-based firm and sidelined Galloni who was considered by many as his heir apparent. Galloni used to rate Italian wines for Robert Parker during his tenure with the ‘Advocate’.
In his Tuscany report on the 2010 and 2011 vintages, Galloni reportedly opines, ‘2010 will go down as one of the great all-time vintages in Tuscany. The wines show beautifully delineated aromatics, punchy fruit and vibrant, mouth-watering acidity.’ His highlights include 98 points for Masseto, 97+ for Solaia, 97 for Ornellaia, and 96 for both Tignanello and Sassicaia, the mother of all Super Tuscans. It was the brilliant advent of Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated Sassicaia by Tenuta San Guido, owned by Marquis Mario Incisa della Rocchetta in 1968 in the Sangiovese grape-dominated Tuscany, that gave birth to the term Super Tuscan wines and the Bolgheri area in Maremma on the western coast of Tuscany never looked back since then.
The high praise from the influential critic has resulted in healthy trading of the 2010 vintage, which represented half of all Italian wines changing hands in August. The collectors of these internationally revered gems in Indian and other countries may want to increase their cellared stocks for price appreciation as well as laying them up for drinking in the future.
It is interesting to note that the Italian Super Tuscans still sell at a fraction of top Bordeaux wines and are more affordable for many more people. A bottle of Ornellaia 2006 for example, sells for only $200 at the Delhi Duty Free Shop; there is even a discount of $15, if one buys two bottles. The well respected London wine merchant BBR has announced the price of Solaia 2010 as 130 GBP a bottle.The average Super Tuscan costs $2,817 per case, whereas the average Bordeaux first growth is more than two and a half times at $7,261 a case, according to Liv-ex.
Tags: Super Tuscan, Antonio Galloni, Liv-ex, Tuscany, Ornellaia, Tignanello, Italian wines, Wine Advocate
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