Supertuscans Reach New Heights: The Whole World has its Eye on Sassicaia

2016 Sassicaia is Investment Potential in Italian

The supertuscans are really attracting attention throughout the world: In November, Sassicaia’s 2015 vintage was selected as Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator, and in January, the 2016 vintage was awarded 100 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate as the first vintage since 1985. The supertuscans, and Sassicaia in particular, are really interesting from an investment perspective!

A New Era: Sassicaia in World-Class

Sassicaia is one of the five supertuscans that are breaking through on the wine scene and is also beginning to steal attention when it comes to investing in wine. The supertuscans have a lot in common with the great classic Bordeaux wines but are really creating a name for themselves.

It is, therefore, not wrong to claim that Sassicaia, in common with the other supertuscans, is entering into a new era and that, from an investment perspective, it is even more attractive than ever.

Sassicaia Steals the Limelight

In recent years, Sassicaia has established an unprecedented high level compared to what can be expected of Italian wine and will probably be the benchmark against which we will measure all other Italian wines in the future - including the other supertuscans.

Sassicaia’s triumphal procession peaked for the first time in November 2018 when 2015 Sassicaia was awarded as Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator, one of the market’s greatest wine authorities. Already in January 2019, the follow-up peaked again when Wine Advocate awarded the famous 100 points to perhaps the best Sassicaia ever - something that has only happened once before, namely the 1985 vintage!

Italy beats France thanks to Sassicaia

According to figures from the British wine exchange, Liv-ex, the Italy 100 index is the best performing YTD (2 August 2019) index with a return of 2.78%, higher than all other indexes tracked on Liv-ex.

If instead, one looks back a year, Italy 100 provided a return of 5.25%, only surpassed by Burgundy 150 with a return of 11.4%.

It is of interest in this instance to note that Sassicaia is probably the driving force behind most of the Italian increase in value. The selection of 2015 Sassicaia as Wine of the Year took place on 16 November 2018 and, the following week, Italian wine trading constituted 21.7% of Liv-ex compared with only 4.8% the previous week - thanks to Sassicaia. Measured in terms of value, Italy was the most traded area in this period which shows that the market can move large volumes - at the same time as it was also that here that the price increases started in all seriousness.

2015 Sassicaia has so far proved to be a sensible investment, but the selection of the 2015 vintage in November has been a serious catalyst for increasing prices, and Sassicaia has only experienced additional momentum with the 100 score for the 2016 vintage in January.

2015 Sassicaia: 29.7% Return in 9 Months

Until November 2018, 2015 Sassicaia was traded at approximately € 130 per bottle. The Wine of the Year-Award accelerated the price increases and, since then, it has increased by about 42% to approximately € 185 per bottle today.

This is a perfect example of Sassicaia’s increasing popularity, and it remains to be seen what an even greater wine such as 2016 Sassicaia can achieve.

2016 Sassicaia has also already risen from € 170 per bottle (following the 2015 selection but before the 100 points award) to € 210, which has meant a return of 23.5% in approximately 11 months.

Sassicaia among the World's Most Searched for Wines

Another good example of the supertuscan’s advance is that all five are among the 50 most searched for wines on winesearcher.com. Sassicaia is right up front as well and has risen from 12^th to 6^th place amongst the world's most searched for wines in only 1-2 years. This shows that a very large number of people are extremely interested in Sassicaia in particular, which only contributes to the investment potential.

Rare Wine Invest’s Opinion

Sassicaia is on the way to becoming Italy’s No 1 super brand when it comes to wine and will undoubtedly become the future benchmark - both when it comes to supertuscans and for Italian wines as a whole.

The 2016 vintage is possibly the best Sassicaia ever and with increasing popularity, a strengthening of the brand and a growing reputation for supertuscans in general. This makes 2016 Sassicaia extremely interesting.

The 2015 vintage is a powerful example of Sassicaia’s growing investment potential, and with a rate of return of 42% in just 9 months, the question is only what an even stronger wine such as 2016 Sassicaia might deliver.

2016 Sassicaia has also increased from € 170 per bottle (following the 2015 selection but before the 100 points award) to € 210, which represents a 23.5% return in about 11 months, but significant price increases could still be seen in the future. 

One thing is certain: If you want to invest in the only 100 points wine from Sassicaia in recent times, now is the time before the market's increasing interest in the supertuscans could result in even further price increases.

Do you want to learn more?

Read more about why investing in wine is the perfect investment and get wiser on what mechanisms make investing in wine especially attractive right here: Why invest in wine?

If you are not yet a wine investor, you can also benefit from reading more about how to invest right here: How to Invest

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