Long live Sassicaia

Liv-ex is an index of the most purchased and/or sold wines by international collectors. It is a ‘Top’ 100’ classification based mostly on auctions prices the world over. The 2014 list was a particularly prestigious one for Italy because for the first time and absolutely the first time for a wine that wan’t French, Sassicaia made to the top three, placing third after Pavie and Cheval Blanc.

The average price for a case of Bolgheri Sassicaia was 1,021 British pounds (just over 100 euros a bottle), with an average rating of 96/100, a 5% rise in transactions and 13 appearances at auctions. This was an exceptional result. There were nine other Italian  wines in the ‘Top 100’: Ornellaia was ranked 13th, Gaja 14th, Masseto 25th, Giacomo Conterno 31st, Bruno Giacosa 60th, Solaia 62nd, Tignanello 76th, Le Macchiole 86thand Guado al Tasso slipped in at 100.

As you can see this is a mix of brands, some refer to single wine and others to the winery overall. There were 54 Bordeaux wines on the list, a confirmation that over half of the wines at auctions still come from the ‘golden vineyards’ in that French region. An amazingly high number when you consider that there were only 16 Burgundy wines. Among the Italian wines, Masseto fetched the highest price, 4,534 pounds per case (about 450 euros a bottle), but it was still a far cry from the average of 18,530 pounds for a case of Domaine de la Romanée, which works out to be over 2,000 euros a bottle.