2010 Decade Collection

The decade from 2010 to 2020 produced some of the most excellent vintages of the past 30+ years in wine-growing regions across the world. Europe fared exceptionally well, with vintages like 2010, 2015, and 2016 heralded as stellar vintages across the continent. Vint's goal with this collection was to capture quality and value from this outstanding decade to curate a collection featuring standout wines from top regions in France and Spain.
First, we looked at vintages. Four of the five vintages featured in this collection were rated as "extraordinary" by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate for their regions. Examples of these vintages include 2010 in Bordeaux, only topped by 2009 as the best vintage in the past three decades, and the 2016 vintage in Ribera del Duero (Spain), which is tied with 2010 as the best vintage in the past 40 years. After considering the vintage, we looked at producers. We analyzed the market to identify which producers have been gaining momentum on the secondary market, such as Armand Rousseau, Dominio de Pingus, and Le Pin. Case in point, Rousseau has soared up the Liv-Ex Power 100, which ranks the world's wine brands, to #3 in 2021. The move to #3 was an improvement of 22 spots from the previous year, positioning the brand only behind the powerhouses of Leroy and Lafite. Another red hot producer we targeted was Le Pin. This Pomerol has soared in popularity in recent years, riding the wave of collector interest in Petrus and Pomerol as a region on the whole. Unlike Petrus, Le Pin only produces 500 cases a year (compared to 4,000), so as collector interest has increased, the prices for the limited supply have also ballooned. Another critical factor in creating this decade's all-star collection was identifying "value". One approach to value is identifying vintages that were initially undervalued compared to their quality. An example of this is the 2012 Mouton Rothschild. Following the overheating of the Bordeaux market from 2009 - 2011, the market corrected and the 2012's were released at a 26% discount to the 2011's even though the vintage was much stronger (2012 scored 96 pts from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate and 2011 scored 92 points). Another approach to identifying value is to select wines made by a superstar producer like Rousseau but from a top Premier Cru rather than a Grand Cru like the famed Clos Saint-Jacques. Rousseau is known for their wines from Gevrey-Chambertin and they are all highly sought after. However, due to small production and market speculation, the prices of the Grand Cru wines are so exorbitant that they price out all but a few collectors. With this reality, the broader investing market is now turning their attention to top-tier Premier Crus like Clos Saint-Jacque, which many critics assert should be awarded Grand Cru status. This perfectly positions the Clos Saint-Jacques as a high-value purchase for collectors in terms of quality for dollar when compared to the prices of the Grand Cru wines. To conclude, between standout vintages, top producers, and strategic value purchases, this all-star collection offers a uniquely diverse basket of wines that are a welcome addition to our portfolio of offerings.