The number of labels listed on Liv-ex is growing, and Italy’s share reaches 16.2%

More than 107.000 wine and spirits labels have been cataloged, with precise and punctual information about origin, type, grape variety, appellation, cru where present, that we can find in the Lwin database, the Liv-ex Wine Identification Number, which then assigns to every wine its 11-digit code, a bit like Isbn for books, allowing the transfer of information about the same wine among different systems without any solution of continuity, something otherwise challenging, because wine names are often registered differently by different systems and people. In total, in the database are listed wines and liquors from 86 different countries, with France solidly in the lead, with 40,120 labels, whereas the United States, thanks to the boom of the last four years of its wines in the secondary market of fine wines, as well as the ever-present American whisky, are in front of Italy, which however has more than 10,000 labels, from 17 different regions, to represent the huge variety and richness of Italian wine.

Of these, 570 are labels that have never before appeared on the fine wine market. A market in which the specific weight of Italian labels has undergone an incredible evolution: if in 2017 Italian wine was worth just 6.4% of Liv-ex exchanges, on a par with two Bordeuax appellations such as Margaux and Pessac-Léognan, today its share of the total has reached 16.2%: Barolo is close to 4%, as well as Bolgheri, Brunello di Montalcino slightly exceeds 2%, the other wines of Tuscany exceed 4%, Barbaresco is worth 1.5% of the trades and Amarone is approaching a 0.5% share. A trend that shows first of all the widening of the market to labels and appellations from many countries, not only from the usual France, which means a higher offer for wine lovers and collectors, but also higher liquidity for companies. Many of the Italian labels that are attracting the attention of the secondary market of fine wines boast very high scores from international critics, but also relatively low prices.

Examples, brought to you by Liv-ex’s latest report, include Canalicchio di Sopra’s 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Casaccia, at £468 per case, on the strength of James Suckling's 100 points, but also Tenuta di Trinoro’s 2018 Toscana Rosso (£858), Paolo Scavino’s 2016 Barolo Carobric (£291), Marcarini’s 2016 Barolo La Serra (£218), Elvio Cogno’s 2015 Barolo Riserva Vigna Elena (£468) and Cava d'Onice’s 2015 Brunello di Montalcino (£468).