Historic: New Ornellaia Is The Best In The House's History

What Is Ornellaia?

Ornellaia, a winery located in the heart of Bolgheri, Tuscany, has long been synonymous with excellence in fine wine—especially its flagship wine, Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore.

Founded in 1981 by Marchese Lodovico Antinori, Ornellaia has, since its first vintage in 1985, slowly and surely taken up permanent residence on the world's most prestigious wine scene as one of the most famous and recognized Italian wines. The winery is ideally located in coastal Bolgheri, where the cooling effect of the Tyrrhenian Sea creates a microclimate ideal for growing Bordeaux grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc - the main components of Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore.

Ornellaia was created with the ambition to make great Bordeaux-inspired wines, thus breaking the prevailing norms and dogmas in Italian wine production and creating a new standard for luxury wine. The new norms, or lack thereof, were labeled "supertuscans," Ornellaia is today considered one of the five original supertuscans*. The supertuscans have been a significant factor in bringing Italian wine to where it is today.

Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore is an embodiment of the unique terroir that surrounds the estate. The wine's development undergoes a carefully monitored process, starting from the hand-picking of grapes to the meticulous selection before vinification. Maturation takes place in French oak barrels, which adds complexity and depth while maintaining a balance between the grapes' original character and the barrel's influence.

Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore is thus more than just a wine; it is a legacy and testament to Italian craftsmanship and innovation. For wine lovers, each bottle represents a part of the story of how a group of visionary winemakers redefined the entire Italian wine scene and created a now world-famous and coveted category in the Super Tuscans.

*In the company of Sassicaia, Masseto, Tignanello and Solaia

2021 Ornellaia: The greatest Ever

The opportunity to invest in Ornellaia is not new here, but it is a rare visitor - in fact, our last investment tip on Ornellaia was on the 2019 vintage in 2022, when it was the highly topical vintage.

Now the 2021 vintage has been released and with the critics' ratings published, it's clear that Ornellaia has released a masterpiece.

"The 2021 Ornellaia captures all the magic of this sensational vintage on the Tuscan coast"

- Antonio Galloni, Vinous

With 99 points from Vinous, the most specialised Italian critic, Antonio Galloni, has opened a so far unexplored terrain of high scores for Ornellaia. The closest Vinous has come to this rating is only once, when the 2015 vintage scored 98 points.

Wine Advocate is more restrained, awarding "only" the 2021 vintage 96 points. Wine Advocate's top score is 98 points, which has only been given once, to the benchmark vintage 2016.

James Suckling, the usual third component of our objective methodology when it comes to Italian wines, is as impressed as Vinous. Suckling rewards the 2021 vintage with 99 points, which is also the highest score an Ornellaia has ever been given here. Again, only the benchmark vintages such as 2015 and 2016, with 98 points, approach the level of 2021.

If we take the average of these three scores, we end up with 98.0 points, and only the super vintage 2016 comes close with an average score of 97.3 points.

In other words, the verdict is clear: since the first Ornellaia vintage (1985), there has never been a better Ornellaia presented to the market than the new 2021 vintage.

2016 Ornellaia Has Given Solid Returns - The 2016 Vintage Is Better...

In recent years, the market has shown itself to be more inclined to pay a higher price for Ornellaia in the great vintages than to enjoy a discount on a secondary vintage, which means that the best returns have been among the best vintages.

If we look at the 2016 vintage, which is the best-rated Ornellaia if we disregard the 2021 vintage, we might get an indication of what's in store.

Since the release of the 2016 Ornellaia around the same time in 2019, the average asking price on the wine-searcher.com platform has increased by 57%. This means an average annual increase of 9.4%.

Admittedly, this is a rock-solid return that exceeds what you should expect from the stock market, for example. But the exciting thing is that the 2016 Ornellaia is still a "new" and young wine - in other words, although availability (based on the number of offers on wine-searcher.com) has dropped by over 61% since its peak in spring 2020, there are still quantities available in the market. At the same time, we are dealing with a young wine that, according to Vinous, will not enter its drinking window until 2027. In other words, according to wine-searcher.com, the price of 2016 Ornellaia increased by more than 9% per year before it really became exciting.

In this perspective, remember the above about 2021 Ornellaia surpassing the 2016 vintage. That makes for some exciting prospects.

A Paradigm Shift

If you are a wine lover, you are probably familiar with the pleasures of a good bottle of Bordeaux wine, but these wines also need a few years to reveal what has brought Bordeaux to its greatness. The Bordeaux-inspired blends of the super-Tuscans have inherently been the same, with young wines not being as accessible in character as the modern wine drinker increasingly favors.

And we do not have to go back many years before that was just how it was. But in the last few years, major critics have reported a shift towards more accessible wines that were previously drinkable for a larger mass of wine lovers.

Relevant to this case, Vinous writes in their review of 2021 Ornellaia: "There was a time not too long ago when young wines here (Tuscany) needed years in bottle to drink well. That's not the case with the 2021"

However, this in no way means that 2021 Ornellaia is less worthy of investment or less worth saving; quite the contrary. Vinous estimates that 2021 Ornellaia has an optimal drinking window from 2027 to 2051. This means that it still has a long life cycle ahead of it, while the time from now, until it becomes really interesting, is shorter than what we have been used to - something that can probably accelerate the development we have seen with the 2016 vintage.

RareWine Invest's opinion

The great Italian wines have come to the fine wine scene to stay, and while we are not likely to see them take over the Bordeaux category anytime soon, it is clear that the skilled Italian producers have no plans to hold back.

Despite a relatively short history, with the first vintage from 1985, Ornellaia is an Italian treasure with a permanent residence in the Italian luxury wine segment, primarily driven by the wine's towering quality and the predicate as one of the original Super Tuscans.

Now, for the first time in a remarkably long time, you have the opportunity to invest in a new Ornellaia release here, a release that surpasses anything we have seen in the past and will undoubtedly become a historical benchmark vintage to be used as a measuring stick for other Ornellaias in the future.

If you also find the potential of the great Italian wines interesting, 2021 Ornellaia is an obvious investment case for you. You have the opportunity to get in early and be part of the whole journey.