Diversifying and focusing on fine wines: investing in great Italian wines is not a gamble

Diversifying investments, especially in times of crisis, when interest rates tend to fall, is a good general rule of thumb. Betting on wine, instead, as we have been telling and writing for years now, may prove to be the right choice. In support of which there are numbers that leave very little to interpretation and imagination: since 2003 the Liv-ex, the secondary market index of fine wines has grown almost 300%, which means that the value of wines in the index has quadrupled in 17 years. And this also applies to Italian wines, indeed, in recent times, especially Italian labels. As the Finarte auction house points out, the analogy with traditional investments also applies to the definition of the objectives of investment in fine wines: characteristics of risk and volatility, time limits and the ability to be liquidated. The risk and volatility, at least in the medium term, are moderate if you choose labels that have a high exchange on the market (such as the Monfortino of 1995, the Sassicaia or the Tignanello of 1998 and 1999).
Great attention must be paid to the timing of the investment: for long periods it is necessary to provide for adequate rotation of labels and vintages, bearing in mind that liquidating the bottles at the best conditions takes time even when you are in a professional trade circuit. But which wines should we focus on? In recent times, the spotlight has been on the yields of wines from the Langhe in general, where, among others, Bartolo Mascarello’s Barolo 2014 and Giacomo Conterno’s Monfortino 2010 showed important price increases in 2019, but also, as always, on wines from Bolgheri, with Masseto and Sassicaia, champions of yields in very different vintages, from the more accessible 2013 to the legendary 2015 and 2016, with Solaia and Ornellaia completing the group. Always in the front row in terms of the ability to increase value over time are for Tuscany the wines of Montalcino, with the most famous Brunello wines such as Biondi Santi, Soldera, Casanova di Neri, and some established brands such as Tignanello and Pergole Torte; for Veneto the wines of Valpolicella, with the Amarone of Quintarelli, Dal Forno, Masi, Bertani.