Top Super Tuscans – Sassicaia, Tignanello, Solaia, Ornellaia and Masseto – dominate Italian wine trading at Bordeaux Index and its LiveTrade online trading platform (see table), though demand is below a 2022 peak.

‘People continue to like the story [of these wines],’ said Geraint Carter, of Bordeaux Index, noting particular interest in top-rated vintages.

Some prices appeared to have stabilised after rising steeply up to 2022 and falling relatively modestly in the recent market downturn.

Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said its Italy 100 index dropped 7.2% in value in 24 months to 28 February 2026, but was up 9% over five years.

Tuscany outperformed Piedmont, said Tom Burchfield, head of market intelligence at Liv-ex.

‘Prices for top-end Tuscan wines rose further than Piedmont wines in the upmarket, have been more resilient in the downmarket and early indications are that they might recover more quickly.’

He added, ‘Since August [2025], Tuscan components [of the Italy 100] are up 1.7%, while Piedmont components are up 0.9%.’

No longer overlooked

Carter suggested that further significant price rises for Super Tuscans in the short-term were unlikely, given the ongoing market uncertainty and prior gains. These wines ‘have gone through their transition of being overlooked’, he added.

Burchfield said trading on Italy was ‘quite inconsistent’ in 2026 so far. ‘While there is generally more price stability, we are not seeing buyers really rise up to offers with any haste.’

Tenuta San Guido released Sassicaia 2023 in February. Anna Hickson, brand manager for Tenuta San Guido at UK agent Armit Wines reported high trade interest.

‘Despite the challenging market conditions, Sassicaia continues to be viewed as offering strong value at the premium end of the fine wine market.’

In New York, Lauren McPhate, partner at Tribeca Wine Merchants, described demand for top Italian wines as robust, helped by top vintages, Super Tuscan brand power and also Piedmont.

‘Barolo [and] Barbaresco are always drivers, especially older, harderto-find vintages: 2010, 2016 and bottles reaching back to the 1960s and ’70s are moving with confidence.’

The Bordeaux Index view

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com

Tuscany joins the top table

The transformation of Tuscany’s position in the fine-wine market over the past two decades has been truly impressive.

Once a relative bit-part player in a trade dominated by Bordeaux and, to a lesser extent, Burgundy and Champagne, Tuscany is now a consistent mainstay.

This rise has been driven largely by the region’s aristocrats, whose wines have evolved into luxury brands with broad global demand and strong liquidity – a standing built on critical acclaim, improvements in quality and, crucially, a perception of value relative to Bordeaux.

Performance has matched the narrative. Italian icons such as Sassicaia and Tignanello were leading participants in the bull market of the late 2010s and early 2020s, and have proved resilient during the subsequent correction.

Altogether, this represents a striking repositioning, achieved in no small part as Bordeaux spent much of the decade after 2007 eroding its own competitive advantage.

That said, the dominance of the Super Tuscans is unfortunate given the wealth of authentic quality elsewhere across Tuscany and Italy’s other wine regions, much of which remains criminally under-appreciated.

Recent releases suggest producers are aiming to capture a greater share of the upside.

That is understandable, but the lesson from Bordeaux is clear: push too far, too quickly, and the consumer has a habit of pushing back.

Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges ‘100% sold’

In France, auctioneer iDealwine reported signs of ‘strong early confidence’ in Burgundy’s 2025 vintage after all lots sold in the 65th Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges charity auction on 8 March, raising €1.526m in total.

However, only 80.5 barrels were offered in this year’s sale, versus 100-150 in a typical year, said iDealwine.

This reflected limited yields in 2025 – albeit more generous than in the 2024 vintage.

Fine wine diary: Upcoming releases

Bordeaux 2025 en primeur: Critics and journalists will descend on Bordeaux in mid-April to taste barrel samples of the 2025 vintage. The first en primeur releases normally follow shortly afterwards, and the broader campaign can run across May and June. Stay tuned for analysis on quality and prices.

Judgement of Paris collection: In an ‘almost unheard of’ offering for collectors on 1 May, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art said it will auction a single lot featuring 10 red wines from the famous 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting. The lot includes overall champion wine Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars SLV Cabernet Sauvignon 1973, plus Mouton Rothschild 1970.

Auction Napa Valley: Tickets have been made available for this year’s Auction Napa Valley weekend in early June. Three new packages for the traditional ‘Napa Valley Barrel Auction’ include a VIP tier that offers a winemaker dinner on the prior evening, said trade body Napa Valley Vintners.

Related articles

Nestled in the historic Champagne village of Aÿ lies one of the region’s most recognisable names: Champagne Bollinger.

A family-owned house since its inception in 1829, it is nearing its 200th anniversary in just a few years.

A staple on wine lists and shop shelves, it’s a brand we think we know well. Yet on a recent visit – the launch of Bollinger's classy prestige cuvée La Grande Année 2018 – I still discovered many things that surprised me.

Here are five facts you need to know about this iconic Champagne house.

1. Never-ending underground cellars

Underneath the quiet streets of Aÿ lies an astonishing six kilometres of cellars where wine bottles rest and age patiently in a naturally cold environment.

Descending down 48 steps, the cellar opens out into a maze of endless tunnels. One could easily get lost among the bottles attempting to navigate this rabbit warren.

Thankfully we were guided through by someone who knows them intimately.

2. The house still has a human riddler

While the majority of Champagne houses today rely on automated riddling machines, Bollinger still performs manual riddling for all of its special cuvées and vintage Champagnes.

The house currently has two and a half riddlers: two experienced riddlers and one in training.

Asked how many bottles he riddles in a day, riddler Olivier Lannez says: ‘about 45,000 bottles!’ his eyes gleaming with pride.

3. The last resident cooper in Champagne

Not only does Bollinger own the largest collection of barrels in Champagne, it has the only resident cooper in the region. Gaël Chaunut manages around 4,000 barrels single handedly.

And with a new barrel room just inaugurated, there will be another 1,000 barrels under his remit.

In a nod to traditional cellar practices, chestnut branches are sometimes fixed around the rims of the barrels.

This simple technique protects the cellar floors from scratches when the heavy barrels are moved around.

4. Bollinger makes a still red wine

It may come as a surprise that alongside its famous bubbles, Bollinger also makes a very rare still red wine.

La Côte aux Enfants is made from 100% Pinot Noir grapes, and comes from the legendary La Côte aux Enfants vineyard.

Given it is not sparkling, it cannot be labelled as Champagne, and is therefore labelled under the Coteaux Champenois appellation.

This 4ha plot was once divided between 50 different owners. Recognising the extraordinary potential of this land in the early 20th century, Jacques Bollinger gradually bought each small plot. Bollinger now owns the entire vineyard.

Although this plot of Pinot Noir has long been used for red wine production, both for the still red and for use in Bollinger's prestige La Grande Année rosé, the house also launched a blanc de noirs Champagne from the north-west part of the plot in 2012.

The red is only made in the best vintages, and feels close in style to a top-tier Burgundy: vibrant red fruit, savoury aromas and complex notes of truffle and forest floor. Heavenly!

5. Stepping into a time capsule

Hidden deep within the Bollinger cellars is a historic wine library, which it calls Galérie 1829, housing bottles dating back to the 1830s.

I reflected on how much history these wines must have witnessed, with generations of winemakers from the Bollinger family carrying forward its legacy.

To amuse myself, I first checked my birth year, then my mother’s, and finally my grandmother's, just to live in a moment where three generations of women in my family could share this quiet connection through time.

My ancestors, of Indian heritage, would probably be appalled at the thought of women drinking wine.

Madame Bollinger, though, would probably be proud.

Elisabeth 'Lilly' Bollinger played a pivotal role in making Bollinger into the iconic brand it is today.

After her husband, Jacques Bollinger, died in 1941, she took charge of the house during the Second World War.

A true visionary, she travelled to the United States after the war to promote her Champagne.

She brought in forward-thinking practises, such as late disgorgement and continued traditional ones like oak vinification, that the house still uses today.

So next time when you open a bottle of Bollinger, picture those winding cellars, the team of riddlers, the skill of the cooper, and Lilly Bollinger's legacy.

Related articles

It’s a key year for critical reappraisals of Bordeaux 2016 and many top wines recently featured at a ‘10 years on’ tasting hosted by international merchant Bordeaux Index in London.

While scores for individual wines can’t be prejudged (look for a full report in Decanter’s Bordeaux supplement, published with the May issue), 2016 is widely considered a modern benchmark.

And yet price performance has been modest in a challenging market. A few wines have risen since en primeur release in 2017, notably Pichon Comtesse and Les Carmes Haut-Brion, but some were more than 10% below their debut level, said Bordeaux Index and its LiveTrade online trading platform (see table below).

Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said the ‘mid-prices’ on 31 out of 45 2016-vintage red wines in its Bordeaux 500 index were below their ‘ex-London’ release.

Its ‘mid-price’ reflects the halfway point between the lowest live offer and highest live bid (in pounds sterling).

Buyers stepping up to the plate

Bordeaux Index’s Geraint Carter described 2016 as ‘sensibly priced’ but also cheaper than some older five-star vintages, such as 2009, 2005 and 2000.

Prices have risen after bottoming-out in 2025, too, echoing wider positive signals in the market after a three-year downturn.

Liv-ex said: ‘With prices stabilising, there is an argument to be made that now is a time to gently lean into the 2016s.’

It highlighted Cheval Blanc and Haut-Brion as wines that looked to have ‘decisively stabilised’ and appeared to present lower risk.

Miles Davis, market expert at Vinum Fine Wines, said the merchant saw more buyers ‘stepping up to the plate’ in general.

While particularly noticeable on top-end Burgundy, he cited recent demand for Pichon Comtesse 2016. ‘I suspect [Bordeaux] 2016s will continue to sell well this year,’ Davis said.

Carter agreed: ‘There’s definitely [buyer] enthusiasm for it.’ With macroeconomic headwinds still buffeting the market, Davis said he didn’t expect prices necessarily to shoot up significantly in the near to medium term.

Still, he said the top wines would likely be more expensive in another 10 years.

The Bordeaux Index view

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com

‘Truly life-affirming’ Bordeaux

The 2016 tasting was a salutary reminder that while wine is often viewed as an asset, it’s nothing without an enthusiastic consumer at the end of the chain.

Tasting wines that so clearly sit among the greats, and seeing them met with genuine delight, is a far more visceral, and frankly more useful, metric than any spreadsheet or analytical framework.

It was fascinating to taste a collection of wines that straddled the stylistic shift from the ‘Parker era’ of concentration, power and majesty to the contemporary ‘infusion phase’, in which aromatics, finesse and energy take precedence.

That framing may be slightly contrived, but there’s no denying that the wines’ precision and clarity make them unmissable.

After strong gains since summer 2025, the market position of the top 2016 clarets looks sensible relative to their peers rather than obviously cheap. That said, buyers today are less motivated by relative value alone, and the vintage’s ‘musthave’ status could yet drive prices higher.

Fortunately, 2016 was a generous crop and consumption so far has been limited, so availability shouldn’t be overly constrained.

Financially, those who bought en primeur may be questioning some choices. Those who tasted the wines, however, were certainly not thinking in such terms; they were congratulating themselves on owning something truly life- affirming.

In the long run, we know which sentiment matters most.

Further signs of market recovery

Headline auction house figures have added to signs of a renewal in interest from buyers at the top end of the fine wine market, despite the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty.

Sotheby’s said total wine and spirits sales – auction and private – hit US$127.5m (£93.5m) in 2025, up 12% on 2024.

It’s the fourth-highest total in the department’s history, behind 2023 ($159m), 2022 ($150m) and 2021 ($132m).

‘This success [in 2025] has been driven by a truly international buyer base, strong growth in new collectors, and our depth of expertise in presenting landmark singleowner collections,’ said Nick Pegna, global head of Sotheby’s wine and spirits.

Spirits sales reached $21.5m in 2025. Burgundy delivered the highest-priced wine lots, from the Hospices de Beaune charity sale to a 12-bottle case of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Romanée-Conti Grand Cru 1990.

The latter sold for HK$3.5m (US$449,890), including buyer’s premium, in Hong Kong in September (high estimate: HK$2.2m).

Auction house Zachys was also upbeat in its Year in Review: ‘Throughout 2025, Zachys has observed continued and steady market recovery following the post-pandemic slump.’

The average hammer price of top lots has steadily increased, it said. Meanwhile, Christie’s earlier reported a ‘positive shift in collector confidence and participation’ in Asia in autumn 2025, spanning wine, handbags, watches and jewellery.

Sales from live auctions during its ‘Hong Kong luxury week’ in November hit HK$987m (US$127.5m), up 27% year-on-year.

Related articles

Greater positivity pervaded the secondary market in late 2025, following a prolonged downturn.

Several variables have the potential to influence 2026 (see box, below), but stability was the watchword in January, rather than predictions of a fresh bullrun.

‘I don’t think prices will fall in the next year, but I struggle to see them going up meaningfully,’ said Geraint Carter, of international merchant Bordeaux Index and the LiveTrade online trading platform.

There may be exceptions, such as ‘pockets of demand’ pushing prices higher on wines with limited availability, he said. Pricing in some segments looked fragile, notably mid-tier Burgundy, he added.

Will Hargrove, head of fine wine at UK merchant Corney & Barrow, said: ‘I think it should be a year in which the market continues to improve. But I certainly don’t see it doing that in a dramatic or explosive sort of way.’

Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, said that it expected the market to ‘bump along the bottom throughout 2026’.

It described this as an opportunity for new collectors to buy and drink fine wine, which would help with ‘building up sustainable long-term demand’.

Two questions

Carter highlighted Bordeaux wines from the 2009 vintage and before as one particular buying opportunity. ‘Prices look favourable [and] these wines are ready to drink, so they are supported by a consumption market.’

Sophia Gilmour, market analyst at Liv-ex, said: ‘As the possibility of broad market recovery becomes more of a reality, potential buyers should be asking themselves two questions – where have sellers been willing to capitulate, and which wines may provide the highest nominal gains?’

Gilmour added: ‘In terms of capitulation, 2021 Bordeaux [wines] have seen their prices slashed, generally below ex-chȃteau release prices.’

For buyers willing to incur higher risk, Gilmour said legendary producers such as Rayas (Rhône), Jacques Selosse or Salon (Champagne) and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (Burgundy) will be of interest.

Prices for these fell sharply in the recent market downturn – after rising rapidly – and there could be more interesting offers, particularly if merchants need to raise capital.

The Bordeaux Index view

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com

The shape of 2026: The good, the bad and the uncertain

There are several reasons for cautious optimism in our corner of the wine market.

Some wines now look decisively oversold; Bordeaux 2021 is a case in point, as is Lafite, with price reductions re-engaging long-sidelined buyers.

Absolute value also seems to matter more. Super Seconds from solid vintages trading around £60-£70 will appeal to many, particularly when compared with village Burgundy from unproven producers at similar prices.

And categories such as pre-2009 claret, classic Rhône and Super Tuscans with a little age continue to enjoy consumption-driven support.

It’s also worth remembering that consumers typically moderate rather than disappear.

Asia has clearly been in a moderating phase, but there are signs of a gradual re-emergence of demand. But significant headwinds remain.

Investment overhang from the 2000-2020 bull market is still being worked through, with the most heavily speculated regions enduring the deepest corrections.

Finally, structural challenges loom large. An expanding universe of fine wines increases competition, benefiting drinkers but likely diluting returns.

Add climate change, declining consumption and more fragile luxury narratives, and it’s clear some headwinds will persist.

The year ahead feels finely poised. Opportunities will emerge, but a return to dramatic growth still feels some way off.

Latest Power 100 ranking released

St-Emilion powerhouse Château Cheval Blanc, cult Rhône producer Château Rayas and Super Tuscan standard-bearer Sassicaia have been highlighted in a new ranking of fine wine brands.

Cheval Blanc topped the latest Power 100 ranking by Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, with Sassicaia producer Tenuta San Guido in second place.

Based on trading data in the year to 30 September 2025, the ranking offers extra insight into pockets of relative stability in a challenging market.

‘[Cheval Blanc] has not been immune to the downturn of the market,’ said Liv-ex, but a consistent approach to release pricing has helped to build its ‘strong reputation for quality and value’.

Spain’s Vega Sicilia came 16th, after heading the previous Power 100 ranking. While prices remained stable on average, it was particularly affected by US buyer caution in the face of import tariff uncertainty.

Vaunted Châteauneuf-du-Pape producer Rayas was fifth in the new Power 100 ranking, up 49 places on the 2024 edition. Prices rose 2.7% on average, ‘backed by substantial trade’.

The late Emmanuel Reynaud (pictured abvove), owner of Château Rayas in Chateauneuf-du-Pape Rayas wines have long been sought after by in-the-know collectors.

Geraint Carter, of merchant Bordeaux Index and online trading platform LiveTrade, said prices went ‘through the roof’ in the most recent market bull run before dropping sharply – by around 30% – and then rebounding in 2025 to some extent.

In November, inspirational Rayas owner and winemaker Emmanuel Reynaud passed away, prompting widespread tributes, including from Decanter’s Rhône correspondent Matt Walls.

Average Burgundy prices fell by a few percentage points last year, yet there was a slight upturn from June, said international merchant Bordeaux Index and its LiveTrade online trading platform.

Having surged prior to 2023, a number of top-tier Burgundies have undergone relatively big price corrections in a subsequent secondary market downturn. Have prices bottomed-out?

Price performance varied between wines in 2025, with rises and falls, said Bordeaux Index’s Geraint Carter (see table). He highlighted growing positive sentiment around a few blue-chip producers, including Domaine de la Romanee-Conti (DRC), Domaine Armand Rousseau and Domaine Leflaive. They have a track record of trading and some top wines have dropped 25%-40% in price in about three years.

‘Having that market correction is important in making a case for a sale,’ Carter said. Some wines were still double their price 10 years ago, noting ‘longterm holders of these wines are sitting on big paper profits at current levels’.

Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, reported a rising bid-to-offer ratio for wines in its Burgundy 150 index, which also increased 1.1% in value in November. The index was still down 4.4% year-to-date, but Liv-ex said: ‘At the very top end of the market, price stability does appear to be returning.’

In November, Miles Davis, market expert at Vinum Fine Wines, which has offices in the UK and Asia, reported relatively good demand for vaunted names such as Domaines Roumier, Coche-Dury, DRC, Rousseau and Leflaive, as well as opportunities – having recently offered a super-rare, 12-bottle case of Roumier, Bonnes Mares 1995.

On the auction scene, recent results have fostered confidence. ‘There’s still huge global demand for Burgundy,’ said Tim Triptree MW, international director for wines and spirits at Christie’s, noting a well-established secondary market driven by scarcity and thirsty collectors.

Still, there was a feeling among some merchants that patient bidders hold a strong hand. Bordeaux Index’s Carter said that, beyond a small group of blue-chip producers, Burgundy ‘remains a very fragile market’.

Fine wine & spirits specialist Bordeaux Index kindly sponsors this section of Decanter, and provides its view on the market here every issue. It can be found at bordeauxindex.com.

The story in Burgundy, much like the broader market, has become one of recovery; however, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that prices remain materially down for the year to date. The modest rebound since the mid-summer lows is real but so far concentrated on a narrow set of wines with proven trading histories and, crucially, dramatic multi-year price corrections.

Outside these areas, liquidity remains worryingly thin. Large segments of the market are effectively un-bid, with offer prices that are frequently optimistic to the point of delusional.

Until pricing adjusts, particularly among mid-tier producers, the market will struggle to find broad-based momentum. A little context is essential when considering Burgundy.

Yes, the market is down more than 30% since 2022, but it has still more than doubled over the past decade. Many long-term holders are sitting on substantial paper profits and, in theory, should be willing future sellers.

Yet, on the other hand, the fact that they haven’t sold during three years of declines suggests that their attachment is strong. More broadly, Burgundy is often portrayed as a home for the passionate aficionado, in contrast to Bordeaux or Champagne, where cynical investors tend to predominate.

This characterisation is being tested more than ever, and the outcome will do much to determine the direction of prices in the months ahead.

Coming up

Taste Burgundy en primeur

Various UK-based merchants have scheduled Burgundy 2024 en primeur tasting events for January 2026, open to collectors who wish to taste the young vintage for themselves. Berry Bros & Rudd, Jeroboams, Corney & Barrow and wine club Honest Grapes were among those listing Burgundy en primeur tastings in London. Decanter’s full Burgundy report will be published in the week commencing Monday 19th January.

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2023 release

Not all Burgundy estates follow the same timetable, and the region’s fabled Domaine de la Romanée-Conti tends to release new vintages once bottled. Its class of 2023 is next up and merchant Corney & Barrow, UK agent for DRC, said it planned to offer the wines from early February 2026 onwards.

Brunello di Montalcino 2021

January 2026 marks the official starting point for the first Brunello di Montalcino 2021-vintage releases, though winery schedules will vary. This is a top-rated year for Tuscany more broadly. A full Brunello di Montalcino report by expert Michaela Morris is coming soon to Decanter Premium online.

An ‘incredible auction moment’

Eye-catching prices for historic French-origin wines lit up the festive auction scene in early December, bringing down the gavel on 2025 in style. All lots found buyers when Christie’s auctioned historic wines from the cellars of Burgundy’s prestigious producer-merchant Bouchard Père & Fils in early December.

Total sales hit almost £2.38m, and the star lot was a single bottle of Bouchard Père & Fils, La Tâche 1886. It fetched £325,000, including buyer’s premium, eclipsing a pre-sale high estimate of £19,000. It’s an example of what can happen when bidders set their sights on a particular opportunity.

‘There was a round of applause when the hammer came down,’ said Tim Triptree MW, international director of Christie’s wine and spirits department. ‘There was spirited bidding,’ he said, adding provenance, rarity and Bouchard’s high-quality reputation combined to create this ‘incredible auction moment’.

Among other highlights, a bottle of Bouchard Père & Fils, Clos Vougeot 1857 sold for £47,500 (high e: £14,000). Individual bottles of Bonnes Mares 1865 and Romanée-St-Vivant 1861 each sold for £68,750 (high e: £15,000 and £14,000 respectively).

Triptree said results were another encouraging sign for the fine wine market in general. Fellow auction house Sotheby’s also hosted a major sale of Lafite Rothschild wines in Paris, including bottles sourced from the Bordeaux first growth’s cellars.

A bottle of Lafite 1870, a lauded vintage, sold for €100,000 (£87,335), including buyer’s premium (high e: €60,000).

Disclaimer: Decanter’s Market Watch pages are published for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Wine prices may vary and they can go down as well as up. Seek independent advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets, including the UK.

Related articles

• Wine investment: Signs of a fine wine market reawakening
• Wine investment: Tough trading for California’s blue-chip labels
• Wine investment: Why the Super Tuscans are bucking the trend in a weak market