James wrote a special report for the Financial Times recently on wine investment and interviewed several respected wine merchants for the article. One of the interviewees was Xavier Hornblow, manager of Jeroboams’ flagship store in Belgravia in the UK. For UK investors, Italian wine renders great investment values, says the merchant. Compared with Burgundy and Bordeaux, “Italy in general feels like good value. There are so many fine, age-worthy wines out there that it feels like there is still scope to find something special at a fair price,” he explains. Brunello, in particular, was selling through the roof in 2015, thanks to the excellent 2010 vintage.
At the moment, very dry, gently aromatic and not oaked white wines are the rage among British drinkers, and this makes Italy a natural stop for British wine drinkers as well, he added.
In addition to Italian wines, older vintages of Bordeaux and prestige cuvee Champagne are sought after among consumers, according to the wine merchant. You can read the full interview below to check out his comments on the British wine market and some great wine opportunities in Italy.
JamesSuckling.com: How is Bordeaux selling?
Xavier Hornblow: Bordeaux in general is selling well but that is driven by sales of older vintages rather than by En Primeur. For consumers to re-engage with En Primeur, the quality/price ratio needs to improve. Too many years in a row, many wines sell for the same or less two years after an En Primeur which begs the question: why bother?
JamesSuckling.com: Is there any upside to Burgundy? Why?
Xavier Hornblow: There is scope for investing in Burgundy, thanks to glorious quality and limited supply. The difficult element is, investors focus on a very limited selection of domaines. As a result demand is much higher than supply and wine merchants must give preference when allocating top wines to the biggest customers – so you have to buy a lot of cake and ice cream to get the cherry on top!
JamesSuckling.com: Any other regions to highlight for wine investment, price inflation or just plan collecting?
Xavier Hornblow: Prestige cuvée Champagne has been a consistently good investment in recent years.
JamesSuckling.com: Italy seems to be outperforming most regions at the moment, are you bullish? Why?
Xavier Hornblow: Italy in general feels like good value. There are so many fine, age-worthy wines out there that it feels like there is still scope to find something special at a fair price. The UK wine investors are characteristically well educated on the wines of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne, and so with its plethora of artisanal producers, Italy feels like a relatively undiscovered territory. It has captured people’s imagination.
JamesSuckling.com: What areas from Italy sell the best?
Xavier Hornblow: Brunello has been the big revelation of 2015, which is particularly driven by the fabulous quality of the 2010s. Also Barolo and Barbaresco, but here producers very much already have a sense of their wines’ quality on the world market and price their wines accordingly.
JamesSuckling.com: What producers are the most highly coveted?
Xavier Hornblow: Too many to mention! Casanova Di Neri, Mastrojanni, etc.
JamesSuckling.com: What areas and producers do you look for the future in Italy for investment and purchase?
Xavier Hornblow: The “Three Bs” (namely Barolos, Brunellos and Barbarescos) are the trailblazers of Italy in terms of long-lived, fine red wines. Consumers in general are gravitating towards other Italian wine styles. The British drinker currently looks for white wine that is very dry, gently aromatic and not oaked, and so Italy is the natural place to look: Piemonte, Friuli, Alto Adige and the quality end of Veneto. Wines like Pinot Grigio, Soave and Gavi are sought after.
Photos from top to bottom: Xavier Hornblow, manager of Jeroboams’ flagship store in Belgravia; Two bottles of 2010 Brunellos
