A GROWING PLEASURE ASSET
Not just art: collectors’ interest in purchasing fine wines with record-breaking auctions is growing.
Modern or contemporary art is not the only one to attract the collectors market, in fact over time what are called Minor Arts – jewelry, watches, antiquities, furnishings, design, photographs – have attracted the interest of collectors.
Among these are also the most precious bottles of wine, characterized by the peculiar volatility of the price, caused by elements such as:
- Trend of the harvest years
- Prestige of the label
- Rarity of the bottles offered on the market
In October 2018, two bottles of the world’s most expensive wine from Romanée Conti’s Burgundy estate, both from 1945, were sold at Sotheby’s New York, the first for $ 558,000, the second for $ 496,000.
The result demonstrates the growing interest of collectors towards collectibles that are fully part of the pleasure assets.
Auction sales are the privileged channel for conquering precious bottles otherwise unavailable on traditional channels. According to data collected by Wine Spectator, in the first half of 2019 the main auction houses beat bottles for a total value of 233.8 million dollars, 1% more than a record 2018.
Among the most important international squares, New York is confirmed in first place, followed by London, Paris and Hong Kong.
In recent years, the Asian market has undergone strong growth, so much so that it has become the international reference point for the sector, accounting for 40.1% of turnover in 2018.
Among the bottles that receive great attention and find space in the cellars of the great passionate collectors there is a predominance of the Italian Supertuscans such as Ornellaia, Sassicaia, Masseto and Solaia, also the French Châteaux wines such as Lafite Rothschild, Mouton Rothschild, Haut maintain their position -Brion, Latour, Margaux, Romanée Conti.
