New Release From Ornellaia. Investment Case With Historical Well-Documented Returns

“The 2019 Ornellaia is one of the most elegant wines I have ever tasted here”, Vinous

Antonio Galloni from Vinous is thrilled with this 2019 Ornellaia, which is the latest release from the Italian Super Tuscan. And when the Italy expert shows enthusiasm for an Italian wine, you have to listen closely. This investing tip is the tale of Ornellaia, which is showing notoriously great pace - both in terms of scores, but also in terms of returns.

Ornellaia - The Story of a Real Super Tuscan

Ornellaia is one of Italy's most respected wineries based in Tuscany. Ornellaia's top wine takes its name from the house, and the first vintage saw the light of day in 1985 - a Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Saugvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. In fact, this blend was central to Ornellaia's status as one of the first and original so-called Super Tuscans.

Ornellaia is neighbours to the Super-Tuscan Sassicaia, However, the geographical neighbour relationship is not the only thing that binds the two super-houses together. In fact, the founder of Sassicaia, Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, is the uncle of the founder of Ornellaia - Lodovico Antinori.

Today, Ornellaia is no longer owned by Antinori, as he in 2002 sold it to prominent American winemaker Robert Mondavi (known from Napa Valley). Mondavi entered a partnership with the historic Italian wine family Frescobaldi. In 2005, the Frescobaldi family took over Mondavi's shares, after which they had full ownership of Ornelleia. They also own Masseto and Tenuta Luce, so Ornellaia is in distinguished company. 

Today, the original 5 Super Tuscans are some of the world's most sought-after wines, and if anything, they were the start of Italy's wine renaissance - defining a whole new era in Italian wine history.  

Super Tuscans Outperform Italy 100 Index

According to Liv-ex, all five Super Tuscans in the Italy 100 index (Ornellaia, Sassicaia, Tignanello, Solaia and Masseto) have outperformed the overall index over the past three years.

Liv-ex also points out that the strengths of the Super Tuscans are their brand power, their wide availability, and their relative affordability, which is supported by the argument that the average price per case (12x750ml) of one of the five original Super Tuscans is € 3,184 while the average price of Barolo wines in Italy is € 6,336.

It is therefore still possible to buy the Super Tuscans at a reasonable price - both for the consumer and for the investor.

The numbers tell the story. All the above vintages from Ornellaia have yielded returns. Both YTD and 2 years, although neither 2017, 2018 or 2019 have been on the market for two years, so of course their returns are not yet measurable.

With the high scores that have been awarded to 2019 Ornellaia, there is nothing to suggest that it should perform worse than its predecessors. Add to that the fact that Ornellaia is number 41 on wine-searchers' "Top-100 most searched for wines", which only underlines that Ornellaia is in the world spotlight.

*Score across scores from Vinous, Wine Advocate and James Suckling.

Rarewine Invest's Opinion

Latest release from Ornellaia is off to a good start with high scores underlining high quality. High quality that is a general characteristic of Ornellaia. This of course means that demand for Ornellaia is high, as the 41st place on Wine-searchers top-100 most searched for wines also paints a clear picture.

Of course, it gets interesting when the price evolution of the last 9 Ornellaia releases is considered. The result is clear - the price is rising across the board.

We therefore see no indication that 2019 Ornellaia should go differently than the vintages before. Especially considering that it ranks among the best from the house. We usually have great faith in this Super Tuscan, which in recent times has been notoriously a guarantee of price increase.