Fine wines, Italy at the top for growth, Piedmont does better than Burgundy

Burgundy is a legendary wine territory, its most famous labels, such as those of Romanee Conti, for example, have quotations probably unattainable by anyone else. But, on the whole, in terms of the growth of quotations of fine wines, in the last year, Piedmont is the region that has grown the most, outperforming Burgundy itself, which, in terms of growth, is playing the second place point by point with Tuscany. To say it several sources. As the study of Wine Lister, focused on Burgundy, where emerges the comparison of the French region with the two Italian, and also from Liv-ex data, which shows that, in the last 12 months, the Italy 100, formed by the last 10 physical vintages (2007-2016) of the great Supertuscans, namely Sassicaia, Masseto, Ornellaia and the great “triptych” of the Antinori family, formed by Solaia, Tignanello and Guado al Tasso, and again by Sorì San Lorenzo (vintages from 2006 to 2011 and from 2013 to 2016), Barbaresco (from 2007 to 2016) and Sperss (2005-2011 and 2013-2015) by Gaja, and the inevitable Barolo Monfortino Riserva by Giacomo Conterno (with vintages from 1999 to 2002, from 2004 to 2006 and then 2008, 2010 and 2013), grew by 3.8%, while the Burgundy 150 (focused on the 2008-2017 vintage by Armand Rousseau, Comte Vogue, Georges Roumier, Domaine Ponsot, Domaine Clos Tart, Bonneau Martray, Coche Dury, Domaine Leflaive and Joseph Drouhin, and, from Romanee Conti, on the 2006-2015 vintages of Echezeaux and Grands Echezeaux, and on the 2007-2016 vintages of Romanee Conti, Romanee Saint Vivant, Richebourg and La Tache) lost even -6.6%.
“These data confirm a trend that we too from Hong Hong have been recording for a long time, and that says that great Italian wine should no longer feel “son of a lesser god” than the French one. Which, moreover, is a typical vision of an Italy that is often foreign-loving, because abroad it is already not like that”, Raimondo Romani, at the head of Gelardini & Romani Wine Auctions, the only auction house specialized in Italian wines based in Hong Kong, one of the world hubs of the fine wines market, and the only Italian questioned by Wine Lister’s research, which investigated the sentiment of over 50 “founding members”, all specialized in the segment of great wines in the world.
“It is obvious that Italian wine is following a different path from the French one. If in France there are few great wines that have prices unattainable by all, even by other French, with sensational price differences, Italy moves more together in this sense. And if, for example, the Barolo Monfortino di Conterno is in front of everyone as quotations, there are no sensational scissors with labels like Sassicaia, Masseto, Tignanello or others, as there are perhaps between Romanee Conti and others from Burgundy. And Italy has much more varieties, and at the moment, as I have said before, besides Piedmont, I would bet a lot on the great Tuscan wines based on Sangiovese (from Brunello di Montalcino to Chianti Classico, ed), which are growing a lot”.
But the growth of Italian wine in the fine wine segment can also be seen by other factors, continues Romani: “10 years ago Hong Kong took off duties on wine. Since then, between Hong Kong and China, we have seen the Bordeaux bubble grow and then the acceleration and braking of Burgundy. That of Italy, on the other hand, has been a constant growth, today we can see its fruits. And how much consideration for the great wines of the Belpaese has grown, it also tells us, for example, that in the many dinners that we organize here in Honk Kong together with the Cavalieri de Tartufo di Alba, dedicated to Italy of course, there is always a sold-out, and by now it is customary the presence of representatives of other international auction houses, which were not there before. This is an important aspect, especially in this period, for Italian wineries, given that with the haute cuisine in difficulty in Italy and much of the world (while Asia is starting again, ed), auctions, which are growing, become an even more important market for great Italian wines. So much so that, after the success of the October 25th auction and the Gala Dinner at the Hong Kong Museum of Art to celebrate the collaboration with the Uffizi, we are already working on the next catalog, as always focused on the great wines of Italy, which are second to none”.