Fine and Collectible Wine

Since 1999 Pandolfini Auction House has launched into this sector, holding auctions of fine and rare wines. The general and growing interest in this sector led the historical Florentine Auction House, previously specialized in art and antiques, to take on this new field.

Over the years, the gamble of investing in the oenological sector, which at the time was marginal, has proved itself to be winning and our auctions have become unmissable events for those who are passionate and expert in this sector.

Thanks to this intuition, the market for wine auctions in Italy is enjoying great popularity. If Italy, up to a few years ago, used to be subordinate both in the quality of the wines brought forward in the auctions and in the average sales prices for bottles compared to auctions held in more important venues for wine sales, such as London, New York and Paris, this gap however is now being quickly bridged thanks to growing professionalism. The Italian wine market is now able to affirm itself with authority even outside national boundaries.

The balance sheet for recent years shows a growing interest in the auctions, with further estimated growth for niche and high quality wines; for this reason Pandolfini Auction Hause has directed its choices towards absolute excellence. In particular recent auctions have confirmed the positive trend set by high quality wines and have established the dominance of Supertuscan wines such as Ornellaia, Sassicaia, Masseto and Solaia among Italian wines, whilst amongst the French wines, the great Châteaux such as Lafite Rothschild, Mouton Rothschild, Haut-Brion, Latour, Margaux, Romanée Conti, have dominated the scene.

Thanks to their expertise Pandolfini has had, since its launch, important partnerships such as that with the Gambero Rosso, which began in 1999 and lasted 4 years. During these years they have organized annual auctions of fine and rare wines at the Hilton Hotel and the Città del Gusto in Rome.

Since 2001 they have used their expertise in the wine sector to support the Florentine Maggio Musicale. Pandolfini annually organizes wine auctions, events that are unique and are aimed at promoting two pivotal parts of Italian culture: its love for music and its oenological tradition. The same idea was also the reason behind an exceptional sale of Brunello di Montalcino which took place in September 2005 in the cloisters of the Museo Diocesano in Montalcino.

2004 saw the beginning of their partnership with the Espresso guides and Pitti Immagine, which is still in force. This joint-venture has produced an annual event, which takes place in October, and is organized in inspiring venues in the beautiful city of Florence such as the Leopolda station or at the Central Market. This event includes the presentation of the Espresso Wine Guide and the Espresso Restaurant Guide; following the presentation we organize an auction of fine and rare wines. Since 2010 Pandolfini has doubled the events by organizing an auction, usually held between February and March, in our Florentine office; recent data show that this event is enjoying great success.