According to online auction site Catawiki and fine wine live marketplace eWibe, “Epokale” from South Tyrolean winery Cantina Tramin is the Italian white wine that is “registering the greatest and most consistent percentage growth in price and therefore value on the secondary market.” According to the analysis released by Catawiki, its debut vintage, 2009, had in fact been commercialized by the winery in 2017 at a price of 80 euros, and in April 2020 at the first auction it had reached 480 euros, before rising this year to 1,100 euros (+110 percent), after an annual growth of about 30 percent.
The 2009 of this Gewürztraminer Spatlese from the Termeno Cooperative Winery, which ages for six years in the dark of the Ridanna Monteneve mine at a constant temperature and humidity, and then for another year in the bottle, had been the first South Tyrolean and first Italian non-red wine to win to get 100/100 points from Robert Parker’s-Wine Advocate. Produced from vines that are between 20 and 30 years old, set more than 400 meters above sea level, “Epokale” has aging potential estimated at more than 20 years.
“The revaluation obtained on the secondary market has struck even the most attentive observers,” commented eWibe’s Head of Wine, Leonardo Bernasconi, “in fact, it is the first case of an Italian white wine to rise to the status of a wine capable of a significant revaluation compared to the Cantina’s release prices. “The starting cost of ‘Epokale’ is considerable,” added Catawiki’s auction curator, Mattia Garon, “but the data show an upward trend on the push of the 2009 vintage, gaining stability and consolidating as a potential investment.
“The Epokale project was born almost fifteen years ago with the aim of shaping and consolidating the winery’s qualitative and distribution summit,” said Cantina Tramin’s sales director Wolfgang Klotz, emphasizing that “the speed with which we have garnered so many awards has exceeded all our expectations, but we interpret it as a confirmation of the value and commitment we place in the vineyard and winery.”
