Upswing From Record Vintages: Invest In The Latest Vintage Of Sassicaia ‘En Primeur’

2017 Sassicaia - Ride The Wave

We have said it before and would like to say it again: The Super Tuscans have become extremely interesting when it comes to investing. As for Sassicaia, the 2015 vintage, in November 2018 was named Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator, and the 2016 vintage received the magical 100 points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate - the first time since 1985. Two things that have proven that Sassicaia has reached a new level and can easily take on the greatest stage and at the same time created increased interest in what is arguably one of Italy's strongest wine brands.

This is an opportunity to invest in the latest vintage of Sassicaia en primeur before it gets physical in the market - even at a time when interest in Sassicaia is at the top and at an extremely attractive price.

Find price and read more about why 2017 Sassicaia is an interesting investment case.

Read more about Sassicaia in our investment tip from june 2019: Supertuscans reach new heights:The whole world has it eye on Sassicaia

En Primeur - Now in Italian

‘En primeur’ is a term that describes buying wine earlier in the process than usual - usually 12-18 months before the wine is bottled. The term originated in France, where one may primarily know it from Bordeaux. The great châteaus fought lack of liquidity by “pre-selling” their wine before it was actually ready for the marked.

By buying wine ‘en primeur’, wine merchants etc. can ensure certain amounts of a specific wine as well as the wines at this time is possibly cheaper than at the actual time of release. Something that is often possible when the final quality and taste of the wine is first known when tapped from the barrels - something that can give wines either an upside or a downside when finally released.

As for the 2017 Sassicaia, it may already be bottled, but probably not released before spring 2020, which is why you can still call this ‘en primeur’.

The critics* review of this vintage is by so-called "barrel-score", which scores the quality of the wine on the basis of tasting directly from the barrel and can change when the final tasting takes place.

*So far, Vinous and James Suckling are the only ones to have given points to the vintage 2017.

Quality vs. Price: An Obvious Investment

By comparing prices and quality, the latest vintage from Sassicaia is quite obvious for investment. Looking isolated at quality the vintage 2017 is slightly above the ordinary. The score is based on the average score of the range in which the critics have placed the wine - for example, James Suckling gives 95-96 points, which results in 95.5 points average. View quality vs. scores here:

As an investor, you can now invest in 2017 Sassicaia for just € 135, which is the cheapest Sassicaia among the past 10 vintages. Compared to the current scores, this gives a skewed price-quality ratio, which is extremely attractive to the wine investor.

Should the critics decide to downgrade the points, you have simply invested in the great potential of the Sassicaia brand. If, on the other hand, they decide to upgrade their points, the potential just increases.

In other words, 2017 Sassicaia looks like an obvious investment at this price - at worst it has "only" Sassicaia's great potential and at best an even bigger upside can be added.

Cheap Entrance To The Fine Wine Market

Interest in Italian top wines has been increasing lately. An interest that can be linked to the generally rising quality of the country's largest and most prestigious wines. At the end of October, the British wine exchange, Liv-ex, announced that their Italy 100 index, which includes the greatest Italian wines, was the best performing index of the year so far with an increase of +5%. But while the wines have been subject of a rise in price, Italian wines continue to offer some of the most inexpensive entries for wine investment, with price developments not yet galloping, as seen in both Bordeaux and Burgundy.

‘Penalty Duty’ May Be An Italian Advantage

At the same time, Italian top wines carry an advantage when compared to other top wines. On October 18, new import tariffs, or so-called penalty duties, entered by an increased duty of +25% on French, Spanish and German wines, for example, as a consequence of the ongoing US trade war. Strangely enough, Italian wines are not subject to this penalty, which may prove to be an advantage.

As far as French wines are concerned, it is to be expected that the higher-price American-wine-lovers will have to pay at some point will be perceived as a new normal level and probably will not significantly affect demand in the long run. Instead, for some, Italian wines can suddenly look even more like good bargains, which can affect interest and thus also price rises.

In this way, an American penalty can become an Italian advantage.

Rare Wine Invest's Opinion

‘En primeur’ opportunities in Italy may not be as widespread as one might have known it from Bordeaux, but it is precisely by en primeur-sale 2017 Sassicaia offers increased investment potential, especially through the lucrative price-quality relationship.

Sassicaia is undoubtedly one of the largest and most recognized Italian wine brands we have followed and will continue to follow with great interest. The interest and quality of both the supertoscan and the top wines from Piedmont are unmistakable and there is no indication that these wines will not fill even more in the consciousness of the world's wine traders, lovers and connoisseurs.

The price right now is clearly one of the 2017 Sassicaia's most important and attractive features and when seen together with the vintage preliminary scores and compared to other vintages, the 2017 Sassicaia looks like an obvious investment. The fact that scores are only preliminary can be a great upside in addition to the well-known brand of Sassicaia; If the points are adjusted upwards, the price-quality ratio becomes even more attractive and creates an even better foundation for price increases in the future.

Do you want to learn more?

Read more about why investing in wine is the perfect investment and get wiser on what mechanisms make investing in wine especially attractive right here: Why invest in wine?

If you are not yet a wine investor, you can also benefit from reading more about how to invest right here: How to Invest

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