Mergers & Acquisitions: in 2020 Montalcino and Brunello at the center of the wine industry

Barolo, Bolgheri wines and Brunello di Montalcino. Looking at the rankings dedicated to fine wines, bottle prices, international and national critics’ opinions, and also the ability to attract investment in vineyards and wineries, it is not a gamble to say that this is the triad of “blue chips” territories of Italian wine in recent years. This is also testified by the land values, which have reached levels of great importance: according to WineNews estimates, in Barolo, we are talking about more than 1.2 million euros per hectare, a figure that triples in the most prestigious crus; in Bolgheri, in just a few years, the figure has reached 500,000 euros per hectare; in Montalcino, one hectare in Brunello is about 900,000 euros at market values (different from Crea’s estimates, for example, which calculates a range between 250,000 and 700,000 euros per hectare). And the year 2020, in all probability, will see Montalcino at the center of the news, both from an oenological point of view and on the front of “mergers & acquisitions” of companies and wineries. Thanks to a appeal that seems immune to the changing fashions of the market, and to the attention of the media and the market that will inevitably attract two great vintages, as has already been judged 2015, which is about to arrive on the market, defined as one of the best vintages ever for Brunello, and as 2016, which, according to many, could be even higher in quality.
According toWineNews rumors, there are many realities in the area that are attracting the interest of investors, with many offers already on the plate, and with players of the highest level at stake. Including big names in French wine, ranging from the big luxury groups to iconic names of territories such as Bordeaux, which, also in the wake of the investment made in recent years by the Descours family (which, with the Epi Group, acquired the “cradle” of Brunello, the Tenuta Greppo di Biondi Santi), would have set their eyes both on top-ranking companies, also in terms of size, of the territory, and on small brands of absolute prestige. It is not surprising, then, if in the coming weeks there will be a lot of news, even sensational ones, of changes of hands or new entrepreneurial partnerships in the ownership of brands and wineries.
Meanwhile, there is no shortage of business officially underway, such as the one that sees a new property approaching for the Cantina di Montalcino (now owned by the Cantina Leonardo da Vinci Sca), a peculiar reality for several reasons. Not only because it is the only wine cooperative present in Montalcino (with a production of 280-300.000 bottles between Rosso di Montalcino and Brunello di Montalcino), but also because, even though it does not have hectares of vineyards, it is a modern winery both in form (it is part of the “Toscana Wine Architecture” circuit, which brings together 14 major wineries of the Region, and for its restructuring, in recent years, have been invested 15 million euros) and in essence, between equipment and tools for winemaking, and has a “plus” no small thing, namely “Montalcino” in its corporate name. A business that, according to rumors, could be worth around 20 million euros, and which is just a “spy” of the very strong interest that there is on Montalcino and Brunello hill.
“Montalcino and its Brunello confirm themselves as great attractors of investment - comments Wine News, one of the leading experts in the mergers & acquisitions sector in Italy, Lorenzo Tersi, at the head of LT Wine & Food Advisory - and it is a fact confirmed by insiders that, at the moment, there is a great interest on the part of national and international players, including the French, to put down roots in the territory through the acquisition of wineries or the entry into the capital of the property of large and small, but always of great and absolute world prestige”.
All elements that let us imagine 2020 full of news coming from the land of Brunello.