'Seriously impressive Barolo': 2019 GD Vajra Barolo Bricco Viole

“The 2019 Barolos at Vajra are seriously impressive.” Antonio Galloni, Vinous

RareWine Invest has been arguing for a long time that Italian wine is on the rise. The quality of wines from top Italian producers has been steadily increasing over the past 20 years - now matching the world's best wines. However, prices have only kept pace with the quality of a handful of the top Italian producers, leaving a large investment potential for the rest.

2019 GD Vajra Barolo Bricco Viole is not an Italian leftover, but a distinguished representative of the high quality of the house and the massively high level Barolo presented in the 2019 vintage. However, the price is not at all representative of the quality - and this is where the reasonable investor who believes in the future of Italian wine comes in.

GD Vajra: Leading The Way In Sustainable Winemaking

GD Vajra has 40 hectares in Barolo, and the stunning 4.79 hectares of Bricco delle Viole vineyard, from which the wine in this investment tip comes from, is recognised as one of the best vineyards in Barolo. Located in Vergne, the highest village in Barolo, the family estate is run by Giuseppe, Isidoro and Francesca Vaira^*, the second generation of winemakers. However, their parents Milena and Aldo are not done with the family business, which is why they still supervise the winery.

Aldo founded the winery in 1972 and named it after his father Giuseppe Domenico. Aldo used the land that had been in the family since the 1920s, and in fact, Vajra was one of the first producers in Barolo to dedicate itself to organic winemaking methods - and today, sustainability is also an important factor for the Vajra family.

“The land asks for absolute dedication. It asks to be loved for better or worse, in abundance and scarcity. The land is almost more than a house. It's part of our life and asks to be guarded with the same tenderness that we have for our loved ones. And the amazing thing is that, despite all the difficulties, to love it does not need any effort.” – Vajra

The above frames the family's approach to winemaking, whose approach to nature is very humble. Similarly, the family members describe their internal collaboration as a dream. They have different ideas, positions, and different beliefs - but they always come to a consensus and create great wine.

*Fun fact: until 1918 the family name was Vajra, when the letter J was removed from the Italian language and the family name was changed to Vaira. However, when Aldo founded the company, a mistake was made and the small j crept into the name - and the family chose to keep it for the winery, even though their own names are spelt Vaira.

The Golden Era In Barolo

If you put the autopilot on when making a wine investment, brands such as Cristal, Leroy, Sassicaia and Dom Pérignon are both recommendable and obvious - which is why many people are attracted to them. They have already proven their worth and do not require further analysis. The difficult and time-consuming challenge is to find a wine region and a brand with untapped potential. Before anyone else. And this kind of homework is far from manageable for everyone.

The autopilot has not yet been set for Piedmont, but it is a fact that some of the world's best wines are born in Piedmont - specifically Barbaresco and Barolo. Here you can find wine of extremely good quality, which is not reflected in the still low prices. Wines that are not yet known to the global crowd of wine lovers.

“After the highly problematic and uneven 2018s, Barolo bounces back with a stellar vintage in 2019 that could very well represent the beginning of a new cycle of strong, outstanding years for this historic appellation.” – Antonio Galloni, Vinous, January 2023.

The 2019 vintage mentioned above is particularly relevant to this case because the 2019 GD Vajra Barolo Bricco Viole is a magnificent representative of the vintage. According to Wine Advocate's Vintage chart, the 2019 vintage in Barolo is 'Extraordinary' - the absolute best category. Add to this the fact that the quality seems to be significantly different (and better) than it was just 20 years ago.

And while climate change is bringing warmer climates, there is no prediction of what the quality of Barolo will look like in 10, 20 and 30 years - all we know is that the golden era is now with the 2019 and 2020 vintages as strong protagonists. In the video below, you can get an insight into Piedmont and the new era.

2019 GD Vajra Bricco delle Viole: Representative Of The Greatness Of Its Vintage

When it comes to Italian wines, Vinous is the leading expert. Also, of the most frequently used critics on RareWine Invest, only Vinous has tasted the 2019 GD Vajra Bricco delle Viole. Therefore, it makes sense to compare 2019 scores against previous Viole scores from Vinous.

Vinous awards 97 points, which is the highest score a Bricco della Viole has ever received from the knowledgeable Italy expert. Only the high-profile 2016 and 2013 vintages have matched the quality of this 2019, making the 2019 a representative of both the greatness of the vintage and the highest level a Bricco delle Viole has reached.

Bricco Viole: Comparable Vintages Perform

2019 has already marked itself as a tremendous vintage in Barolo, and this in itself is a seal of quality that attracts attention. 2016 has the same status and in this case shares the 97 Vinous points. The same applies to 2013, which is why it is obvious to look at the price trends of these wines.

According to wine-searcher.com, the asking price of 2013 Bricco Viole has increased 66% since its release six years ago, which is an annual growth of 9%. 2016 Bricco Viole has been on the market for almost four years, and during this period, according to wine-searcher.com, the asking price has increased 55% - 14% per year.

It is not known for certain how many bottles of Vajra Barolo Bricco delle Viole were produced in the 2019 vintage, but in 2016 the figure was 15,000 bottles, so it is assumed that we are in the same range here. So, this is a microscopic production with very high scores, whose comparable predecessors have gotten off to a great start in terms of investment - and the potential for Italy's best wines still lies ahead.

Investment In Italian Wine

It is no longer news that RareWine Invest also focuses on Italy's best wines. This is, of course, because Italian wines are on their way to taking a dominant position on the global scene for exclusive and rare wines. The quality has increased significantly over the last 20 years, but the prices seem very low compared to their French counterparts - due to the low prices of Italian wine, the buyer base and consumption will also be significantly higher than in Burgundy, for example. And few would notice if Italian wines were to increase by 10 or 20% at current price levels - in other words, there is plenty of room for growth.

Furthermore, Italian wine seems to do extremely well in times of crisis, and the passage below is from a RareWine Invest market analysis that highlights what the future looks like for investing in Italian wine. Read the full analysis here: Investing in Italian wine: What does the future look like?

‘"While the stock market almost halved* between November 2007 and April 2009 and only achieved full recovery in spring 2013, the Italy 100 rose by 62.9%, which corresponds to an average annual return of 11.9% during this period. A return that significantly outperformed the broad Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000 index and even outperformed the Champagne 50."

Add to this the fact that the Liv-ex Italy 100 index rose by 11.2% in a smooth and almost linear movement in the first half of 2020 - in a world filled with turmoil, a trade war between the US and the EU, unrest in Hong Kong (the centre of the wine trade in Southeast Asia), Brexit turmoil and not least the global Covid lockdown.

* 1: Based on MSCI World, NET Return, EUR

RareWine Invest's Opinion

While the world was looking towards Bordeaux, we started flirting with Burgundy, and that flirtation proved more than favourable. And at the same time, we spotted the untapped potential of Champagne before it became widely known. As more and more people were seduced by Burgundy and Champagne (and rightly so, we still are), we looked towards Italy, and there are many indications that Italian wines are on the rise.

The golden era of Barolo uses the 2019 vintage as the centrepiece, and the 2019 GD Vajra Barolo Bricco Viole fully lives up to the vintage's reputation with 97 Vinous points. It is also produced in extremely small quantities (15,000 bottles) from an Italian perspective, and its comparable predecessors have had a great start to their price journey.

The above are all arguments as to why you should invest, but the deciding factor in this case is, of course, the price. This costs only €73, and even if it went up 10 or 20%, the consumer probably would not pay much attention to it.