AN IMPERIAL OF MASSETO 2001 FROM TENUTA DELL’ORNELLAIA GOES FOR 6,948 EUROS – THE TOP BID OF THE VINTAGE WINE AUCTION ORGANIZED BY GELARDINI & ROMANI AT THE MERANO INTERNATIONAL WINE FESTIVAL

An imperial bottle (6 liters) of Masseto 2001 from the Tenuta Ornellaia (the creation of Lodovico Antinori now owned by Frescobaldi and Russian investors) is the wine that received the top bid at the Gelardini & Romani vintage wine auction held during Gourmet’s International within the Merano International Wine Festival.

And this was not the only wine to receive head spinning bids during the auction held on November 10. A bottle of Petrùs 1990 went for 2,635 euros; three bottles of Chateau Latour 2000 for 2,396 euros; a magnum of Sassicaia 1985 for 2,276 euros; three bottles of Masseto 2001 for 1,557 euros.

The Tenuta dell’Ornellaia with its Masseto and Tenuta San Guido with Sassicaia, have confirmed that Italian wines are the most coveted wines by wine collectors world wide. In fact, there were many foreigners, from France, Switzerland, Britain, Brazil and Korea, who participated by phone or with written offers, taking away 70% of the lots that were available.

The king of Sangiovese, Brunello, also reaped some impressive bids: six bottles of Brunello Biondi Santi 1964 went for 1,797 euros, and one bottle of Biondi Santi 1955 for 958 euros. The wines from the Tenuta Greppo of the Biondi Santi family, who were the originators of Brunello (and now run by Franco and Jacopo Biondi Santi), have received a grand success at auctions, reconfirming the high returns for this winery. And it should not be forgotten that Brunello Biondi Santi Riserva 1955 is the only Italian wine on the list of the twelve best wines of the 1900’s by Wine Spectator, the American “bible” of wine.

Barolo, as well, maintains its appeal with a bottle of Monfortino Conterno 1988 that went for 311 euros and a 1997 bottle that reached 355 euros.