One of the most storied wine-producing families in Italy has put up a series of rather incredible bottles (and more) in Christie's impending fine wine auction.
I love walking past a business which has a sign saying something like ‘Established 2023’ over the door. In an uncertain world full of pop-ups and smoke-and-mirrors businesses that come and go within weeks, there’s something genuinely inspiring about somebody setting up a new business and telling the world that they’re in it for the long haul.
It’s even better, of course, coming across a company that has already been in it for the long haul — and hauls don’t come much longer than that of the Marchesi Antinori family. They’ve been producing wine for well over 600 years, tracing a direct line back to 1385, which is two years before Geoffrey Chaucer started writing The Canterbury Tales. And at Christie’s upcoming sale on 26th and 27th November, this noble family of oenophiles is selling some of the greatest treasures they’ve accumulated in the past half-century, to commemorate the 50th anniversary collection of Tignanello, one of their most popular wines, which was at the vanguard of the Tuscan wine revolution of the 1970s.
It all started with the Tignanello 1971 vintage, first released onto the market in 1974, which the auctioneers describe as ‘a pioneering wine that played a major role in the rise of the world-renowned “Super Tuscan” movement, redefining the landscape of fine wine.’ That original has an estimate of £300-£500 a bottle, with Piero Antinori describing how important it was: ‘Our will was to express the full potential of this extraordinary hill and this specific vineyard, and we knew we had a wine that, in hopes and intentions, could fulfil that desire,’ he says.
Piero Antinori, photographed in the cellar of the tenuta Tignanello in Val di Pesa, Florence, Italy. Credit: Alamy
For all that, those wishing to find a wine to drink rather than serve as a piece of history might do better to look at some of the other lots.
For the thirstiest, for example, there’s an entire 225-litre ‘barrique’ of Tignanello’s 2024 vintage for sale (estimate £24,000-50,000). You’ll have to wait until Spring 2027 to collect it, but they will decant it from the barrique (i.e. a giant barrel) into one Nebuchadnezzar (i.e. a 15 litre bottle), plus whatever mix you like of bottle sizes from half bottles through to normal 75cl bottles, magnums, double magnums, imperials (6 litres each), and Balthazars (12 litres). And yes, you do get to keep the barrique as well.
But if you’re after quality instead of quantity, however, the most eye-catching of the lots is coyly catalogued as ‘Mixed Formats of Tignanello 2021 and a VIP Experience’, with an estimate of £10,000-£30,000.
The ‘mixed formats’ part of the equation is simple enough: it’s the 2021 vintage (considered to be the best ever produced under this label) delivered in the form of one Balthazar, one Imperial, one Double-Magnum, one Magnum and six bottles. As for the ‘VIP experience’ that comes with it? It’s a visit to the Tenuta Tignanello estate for four guests, travelling by return flight on a Flexjet Praetor 600 private jet from any UK or EU airport within two flying time of Florence, then an overnight stay with private tour of the estate, dinner with tasting with an Antinori family member, and then a private tour and lunch (again, with tasting) at the Antinori nel Chianti Classico winery in San Casciano in Val di Pesa. What can you say to all that, except ‘Magnifico‘!
Christie’s Finest and Rarest Wines Featuring Tignanello’s 50th Anniversary Collection Direct From The Estate auction is live November 26-27.
The cellar of Marchesi Antinori in Tenuta Tignanello in Val di Pesa, Florence, Italy. Credit: Sandro Michah / Alamy
