South American Icons Collection

There has been a tradition of winemaking in South America for over 500 years, and the ability of the region to produce world-class wines has long been recognized. However, it wasn’t until the introduction of modern viticultural and winemaking practices, international investment, and strategic partnerships with some of the best wineries in the world that investment-grade wine was once again produced. These wines have exploded into the collectible fine wine scene, with consistently high scores, strong relative value, and the potential for outsized gains drawing the attention of collectors and driving activity on the secondary market. This top tier of South American wines has been embraced globally, with many of the wines from the region now released on the famed Place de Bordeaux alongside top wines from around the world.

A key factor driving the production of outstanding wines from South America is the partnerships with top winemakers from Europe and the United States. The Vint South America Icons Collection features four of these partnerships: Almaviva partnered with Mouton Rothschild, Seña with Robert Mondavi, Cheval des Andes with Cheval Blanc, and Clos Apalta with spirits and wine brand owners Grand Marnier (and famed French enologist Michel Rolland). In addition to financial backing, these special relationships facilitate the sharing of viticultural and winemaking techniques and equipment, as well as support with commercial activities. Tapping into well-established distribution networks has allowed these high-quality wines to reach a global audience, driving strong demand.

South American wines are benefiting in part from the fact that the global fine wine market has never been as broad as it is today. In 2008, only 0.5% of wines traded on the secondary market were classified as “Rest of World” wines, that is, those investment-grade wines produced outside of France or Italy. Today, this category makes up 11.7% of total trade and represents a more than twenty-two-fold increase in less than 15 years. This dramatic increase in share of trade is driving impressive performance, with the Liv-ex Rest of World 60 Index up 8.4% in the last 12 months and 31% over the past two years.

As the wines in the Rest of World category continue to draw attention and appreciate, South America represents an interesting opportunity thanks to its strong score-to-price ratios and potential for outsized gains. With these criteria in mind, South American wines may now offer a much stronger proposition than many Rest of World wines that have already appreciated. In our analysis comparing scores and prices of the Liv-ex Rest of World 60 Index wines against the wines featured in this collection we found that The scores for the wines in this collection were a mere 0.71% lower than those in the Rest of World Index, but the average price per bottle for the wines in the Rest of World Index was more than 750% more. This tells us that the quality of the wines from South America is on par with the best wines in the world but that the market is currently undervaluing the greatest South American cuvees.

Between the current quality of wine being produced and the potential that iconic global partnerships offer, it would be fair to surmise that South American wines are poised to see continued growth. Add to this an already primed and eager market looking for new opportunities in a hot category that is already growing at an impressive rate, and the conditions appear to be in place for the prices of South American wines to increase at a potentially faster rate than their peers.