News: 2020 Le Pergole Torte - Brand New Desirable Release At Favourable Price

“The 2020 Le Pergole Torte is a towering, vertical wine endowed with tons of pure visceral intensity”
– Antonio Galloni, Vinous

Together with Castello di Ama's crus, the flagship wine from Montevertine is probably the most sought-after and recognised wine from all of Chianti. Especially in recent years, demand has increased, and new releases are hard to come by.

2020 Le Pergole Torte is brand new, and we have secured investment-grade volumes. Volume is essential as this does not present itself to us every month. Quite the contrary. Here you even get a favourable price. Le Pergole Torte has shown great historical returns, but the price does not yet match the high quality: Enter wine investor.

Italian wine is also doing well in times of crisis, and although the world seems tumultuous, world travelers' interest in food and wine tourism in Italy is by no means in retreat. In fact, Google confirms that the growth in online searches in the first five months of 2023 for wine tourism experiences and wine tasting is 13% higher compared to 2019. Even in times of crisis, Italian is on the menu.

This case offers a new release from the best of Chianti. Read much more about the potential below.

Montevertine - A Summer Residence Transformed Into A Wine Mecca

The Montevertine estate has been around since the 11th century, and its original function was for defense. It was later converted into a farmhouse, and in 1967, Sergio Manetti acquired the estate as a holiday residence. Sergio Manetti originally worked in the iron and steel industry, and after renovating the Montevertine property, he planted two hectares of land with vineyards.

And no vineyard without a wine cellar. Manetti wanted to be able to give wine as a gift to his friends and customers, but because his first vintage was so good, he sent a few bottles to the Vinitaly exhibition in Verona - and the wine was a success.

Manetti was seduced by winemaking and decided to dedicate all his time to his new love. With the help of widely recognised wine consultant Giullio Gambelli and cellar master Bruni Bino, success reached new heights. New plots were established, and the cellars expanded. Today, Montevertine consists of approximately 18 hectares of vineyards that produce around 90,000 bottles of wine annually, divided into three different wines and a grappa.

Sergio Manetti died in 2000, after which his son Martino Manetti took over the winery - with great success and with great respect for his father's values.

Le Pergole Torte: At The Top Of The Chianti Hierarchy

Le Pergole Torte was the first 100% Sangiovese wine from the Radda in the Chianti area and is thus widely considered a Super Tuscan as it has challenged classical norms. The wine comes from the house's oldest vineyards, planted between 1968 and 1999 and yielded just 29,000 bottles in the 2019 vintage, according to Wine Advocate. In addition to towering quality, Le Pergole Torte is characterised by artistic labels in the same distinctive style since the first vintage in 1977.

Together with the cru from Castello di Ama, Le Pergole Torte - Montevertine's unicorn - is the most sought-after and recognised wines from Chianti. Especially in recent years, the demand has increased, so obtaining quantities is difficult.

Only Italy expert Antonio Galloni from Vinous scored the 2020 Le Pergole Torte, and this is a so-called barrel score of 96-98 points. Wine Advocate is also enthusiastic about Le Pergole Torte, and since the 2014 vintage, no vintage has scored lower than 96 points. A Wine Advocate score for 2020 Le Pergole Torte has not yet been released. Still, according to the critic's vintage chart, both the 2019 and 2020 vintages are in the "Outstanding" category, so it can be assumed that the score distribution in the two vintages will be roughly comparable, and 2019 Pergole Torte received 97 points from Wine Advocate.

Whether the final score will be 96, 97, or 98 Vinous points is unknown, but no matter what, this score is playing with some of the world's very best wines.

Le Pergole Torte Performs Consistently Across The Board

Although Montevertine's Le Pergole Torte is still relatively new as an investment case at RareWine Invest, it is by no means a discovery for us - and there are many indications that the world's wine lovers have also discovered its high quality. According to Liv-ex, the last ten vintages of Le Pergole Torte that have been on the market for at least five years* have yielded an average return of 157.7% over the last five years.

And the trends are the same when looking at average offering prices on wine-searcher.com for comparable Le Pergole Torte vintages. The chart below shows the average yearly development of the wine-searcher.com offer prices on the respective vintages since release. And because we do not yet know how the Vinous scores will turn out, and Wine Advocate has not yet rated the 2020 Le Pergole Torte, below you will find representatives from different scoring ranges across the two critics.

*Vintage 2006-2015

The Potential In Italy Still Lies Ahead

While the above returns seem exceptional, it is important to emphasise that prices for Le Pergole Torte have long been unheard of given the quality. The price is no longer unprecedentedly low - hence the high yields. But that does not mean that the price still matches the quality.

The 2020 vintage costs just €205*. If it goes up 51%, the price will be €310, which is equivalent to the price of Masseto's secondary wine/2nd wine, Massetino, from the 2020 vintage, and it "only" scores 94 points from Wine Advocate. The decisive factor in this investment case is (besides price) volume. With only about 29,000 bottles produced, it is extremely difficult to acquire investment-grade quantities.

The 2020 Le Pergole Torte has just been released, and now is the most favourable time to obtain volumes. According to Antonio Galloni, it also enters its drinking window from 2028-2060, giving it every opportunity to remain in the portfolio while ongoing consumption reduces the remaining volumes from the market.

Add to this that the cheapest offer on wine-searcher.com for 2020 Le Pergole Torte in whole cases at the time of writing is €216*, while your price is €205*.

*Price per bottle, ex. duty, tax, and VAT, in whole cases and perfect condition.

Italian Wine In Times Of Crisis

Inevitably, the war in Europe and sharp increases in interest rates would also affect wine prices. As a result, some wines have seen corrections while others stagnate. We have reported on tumultuous conditions on the world market before, but in fact, the Italian wine category has outperformed the broader market over the past year. Below you can see the returns on Liv-ex Index Italy 100 and Fine Wine 1000 in one, two, and five years, respectively.

Suppose you are curious about the future of Italian wine and how the category has performed in stormy weather. In that case, you can read an in-depth analysis in the article: Investing in Italian wine: What does the future hold?

Rarewine Invest's Opinion

Whether the world was tumultuous or not, Italy's best would be on the menu. Simply because quality and price do not yet match the vast majority of Italy's most sought-after wines. Especially when compared to their French counterparts.

Le Pergole Torte has shown exceptionally good returns, which is just cementation of the growing interest the winery has received from the world's wine lovers in recent years. And it is a cementing of the fact that Montevertine has firmly established its place among the world's wine elite.

2020 Le Pergole Torte is the latest and freshest release, allowing investors to acquire quantities at a favourable price. Here, too, amounts are small, so as always, it is first come, first served.