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What land costs
Good years and bad
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Tuscany in a minute
- The grapes
- Sangiovese, plus Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot near the coast
- What it tastes like
- Sour cherry, herbs and a savoury, mouth-watering finish.
Cabernet Sauvignon
Merlot
SangioveseGood to know
Chianti Classico and Brunello di Montalcino are made from Sangiovese. Many of the so-called Super Tuscans, especially from the coast around Bolgheri, use Bordeaux grapes instead.
On the label
Named after the place. Riserva means the wine was aged longer.
What the land costs
The dearest vineyards here are in Bolgheri DOC: ≈$279,825–≈$671,580 a hectare (2024). Zone by zone
The business side
Tuscany's collectible tier is concentrated on the coast at Bolgheri (about 1,400 ha under the DOC) and inland at Montalcino (about 2,100 ha of Brunello vineyard). Bolgheri's economics are unusual: a young appellation (DOC 1994) built on Cabernet and Merlot, dominated by a few large estates, whose wines trade at auction alongside Bordeaux.
How the economics work
Bolgheri's top wines are made in Bordeaux-like quantities — Sassicaia and Ornellaia in the low hundreds of thousands of bottles, Masseto in about 30,000 — and sold through the Place de Bordeaux négociant system as well as Italian channels, which gives them Bordeaux's distribution and liquidity. Land in Bolgheri has appreciated from farmland prices to reported figures in the hundreds of thousands of euros per hectare in a single generation, tracking the wines' secondary-market rise.
Deep dive
Montalcino
Brunello di Montalcino requires long aging (released in the fifth year after harvest), which loads the estates with working capital; the Consorzio publishes planted area and the vintage rating. Top estates such as Biondi-Santi and Soldera have a collectible following, but volumes and prices remain well below Bolgheri's leaders.
Facts and figures
Good years and bad
All regions →The years to look for: 2016. The difficult ones: 2002.
| Year | How the year was rated | The growing season |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Good | |
| 2021 | Excellent | |
| 2020 | Very Good | |
| 2019 | Excellent | |
| 2018 | Very Good | |
| 2017 | Good | |
| 2016 | Exceptional | Even season; Bolgheri's reference modern vintage. |
| 2015 | Excellent | |
| 2014 | Mixed | |
| 2013 | Very Good | |
| 2012 | Good | |
| 2011 | Very Good | |
| 2010 | Very Good | |
| 2009 | Good | |
| 2008 | Very Good | |
| 2007 | Very Good | |
| 2006 | Excellent | |
| 2005 | Good | |
| 2004 | Excellent | |
| 2003 | Mixed | |
| 2002 | Difficult | |
| 2001 | Excellent | |
| 2000 | Good | |
| 1999 | Very Good | |
| 1998 | Very Good | |
| 1997 | Excellent | |
| 1996 | Good | |
| 1995 | Very Good |
Who makes the famous wines here
All producers →
ProducerMassetoSeven hectares of Merlot on a clay hill in Bolgheri, about 30,000 bottles, and Italy's answer to Pétrus.
ProducerOrnellaiaBolgheri's second great estate, founded in 1981 by Lodovico Antinori and owned by the Frescobaldi family…
ProducerTenuta San Guido (Sassicaia)The estate that invented the super Tuscan: Sassicaia, first sold commercially from the 1968 vintage, now with…Famous wines from here
All →Appellations
AppellationBolgheriA coastal DOC created in 1994 for Cabernet and Merlot, home of Sassicaia, Ornellaia and Masseto.
AppellationBrunello di MontalcinoSangiovese aged for five years before release: Biondi-Santi, Soldera and the long-aged tier of Tuscany.What a bottle costs to make here
All models →
The numbers behind the region: land, grapes, yields and costs
| Input | Range | Unit | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Land — what a hectare of vineyard sells for | ||||
| Vineyard land, Bolgheri DOC | 250,000–600,000 | EUR/ha | 2024 | CREA / trade reporting on Bolgheri lan… |
| Vineyard land, Brunello di Montalcino | 300,000–600,000 | EUR/ha | 2024 | CREA / Consorzio and trade reporting |
| Vineyard land, Chianti Classico | 80,000–200,000 | EUR/ha | 2024 | CREA / trade reporting |
| Grapes — what growers are paid | ||||
| Chianti Classico DOCG grapes€220 a quintal in Siena and €217.86 in Florence for the 2023 harvest; ISMEA reports… | 2–2 | EUR/kg | 2023 | Prices of wine grapes recorded by the … |
| Labour — farming and harvest | ||||
| Vineyard labour and operations, top Bolgheri estate | 12,000–22,000 | EUR/ha/year | 2024 | Estate interviews reported in the trad… |
| Barrels | ||||
| New French oak barrique | 800–1,300 | EUR/barrel | 2025 | Cooperage price lists and trade report… |
Where the inputs come from
- CREA / trade reporting on Bolgheri land transactions
- CREA / Consorzio and trade reporting
- CREA / trade reporting
- Prices of wine grapes recorded by the chambers of commerce, 2023 harvest (BMTI analysis, April 2024)
- Estate interviews reported in the trade press
- Cooperage price lists and trade reporting (Wine Industry Network, Wines & Vines), 2024–2025
Sources
- Il territorio e i numeri, Consorzio per la Tutela dei Vini Bolgheri, 2025. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- Dati di produzione, Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino, 2025. Retrieved 3 September 2026.