2015 Soldera: The Hype Is Huge - Is This Soldera's Masterpiece?

Italian For… Investors

The investment potential of the best Italian wines is not to be overlooked, and if the right ones are chosen, there is potential here that can easily be compared to the strongest French investment wines. A good example is Soldera from Gianfranco Soldera. With the release of the 2015 vintage, the potential has never been greater. Here, several of the qualities that usually characterize a strong wine investment meet and merge into a higher entity with one of the greatest and most hyped vintages in Brunello - ever.

2015 – A Benchmark Vintage

The 2015 vintage is something in itself, and if you ask the biggest wine critics, there is agreement that this vintage will be one to remember for posterity. The vintage shows itself at its best, both in Tuscany in general, but especially in the small wine municipality, Montalcino. Montalcino is located in southern Tuscany and had optimal conditions during the growing season. It was a vintage, where everyone in Brunello di Montalcino talked about how beautiful the grapes were. There were no plant diseases that ruined the big, beautiful landscape. At the Soldera family, which has vineyards in the southwest corner of the region, they were also positive about their grapes in the vintage. At Soldera, the grapes ripened for a full 114 days. All grapes were sorted, first by hand harvest in the field, then on arrival at the winery.

Although Soldera is not part of the official Brunello, it can without hesitation be expected that 2015 Soldera will receive great reviews when it comes out to the acclaimed writers. At present, it is more or less only Janice Robinson who has reviewed the wine, based on a cask sample, tasted on the property.

The 2014 vintage was a difficult vintage, but despite that, the 2014 Soldera received a full 96+ points from the Italy specialists at Vinous, so the expectations for the 2015 vintage to score higher are both high and reasonable.

Gianfranco Soldera, the "grand old man", behind this renowned producer was responsible for the harvest and the work in the basement of this vintage. Unfortunately, the 2015 vintage is one of the last wines Gianfranco Soldera himself oversaw up until bottling. A tragic solo car accident in 2019 finished the story of the charismatic Gianfranco Soldera and the 2015 Soldera may very well become this artist's masterpiece.

Italian Wine On The Rise: Among The Strongest Categories

The Italian wines are on the rise, and this is true both in terms of quality and demand. The big brands such as Sassicaia and Masseto are attracting attention to a degree that has previously been reserved for the big super brands from Bordeaux and Burgundy. At the same time, only several producers show that they have the capacity to produce wine of such high quality that they have actually become competitors to the old classic wines - especially due to the extremely attractive and competitive prices.

This development is also to be read in historical trade data. In a report released in August 2020, Liv-ex describes a historic growth among Italian wines. Liv-ex describes that the value of the trade in wines on the secondary market has increased by an average of 9% per year for the past 10 years. If you look at the Italian wines in isolation during the same period, the figure is as high as 28.5%. In addition, it can be said that Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti Classico have all seen growth of more than 300% from January to July 2020.

The high jumper of the period was the 2013 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino, strongly followed by the 2017 Sassicaia.

Also read our previous investment tips on 2013 Monfortino and 2017 Sassicaia: The First Real Barolo Gains +25,6 % in 12 months and Upswing From Record Vintages: Invest In The Latest Vintage Of Sassicaia En Primeur

These figures are a strong and tangible expression that the interest in Italian wines is enormous and there is no indication that this will change.

Rising Demand And Limited Supply

Among the world's greatest and best wineries, it is common practice to keep harvest yields low to ensure fruit of the highest quality possible. Classifications and regulations also often dictate how large a yield a producer may have per. hectares, but more often the producers keep it even further down - in the search for the best product.

Case Basse di Gianfranco Soldera is no exception, and although the property has a full eight hectares, which is sufficient to produce up to 60,000 bottles of wine per year, the yield is kept so low that just around 15,000 bottles of Soldera 100% sangiovese are produced. In heavy vintages all the way down to just 6,000 bottles.

This means, in other words, that even in strong vintages, the quantities of Soldera available are extremely limited, to a global wine market that clearly demands the best Italian wines.

Expensive, Mature Wine - 15-16% In Average Annual Yield

That good wine gets better with time and the supply at the same time decreases due to current consumption are some of the prerequisites for wine to be an attractive investment. The same goes for this Soldera 100% sangiovese. Going 10 years back in time, to 2010, the 2006 Soldera was released and traded at a price of around € 200 per bottle. Today, the same wine is traded for € 800-900. This means that if you had bought these wines at the time of release, you would have been able to enjoy average annual price increases of 15-16% - and this in a vintage that does not exactly live up to the greatness of the 2015 vintage.

Rarewine Invests Opinion

To make it short, we actually end where it all started. Vintage 2015 is the subject of a huge hype, and with good reason. The 2015 vintage was unique in Tuscany and especially in the small wine municipality, Montalcino, the vintage was sublime. Soldera seems to have gotten the optimum out of the vintage and it can reasonably be expected that the 2015 vintage will score higher than the weaker vintage 2014 (96+) when the big critics finally bring their review. In other words, there is a great potential upside in the missing points - in addition to the wine's general potential.

At the same time, production is limited to around 15,000 bottles, which in combination with the reported increase in interest and demand for Italian wines, seems extremely few.

All indications are that the 2015 Soldera 100% sangiovese in the long run will be an extremely expensive wine and at the same time have a short-term potential upside if critics were to reveal sensational points scores.

Either way, this is an attractive wine from a great vintage that may prove to be the greatest Gianfranco Soldera has ever presented.