The smallest vineyard in the world: bottles at 5,000 euros

In the heart of the Italian region of Reggio Emilia, in a 16th-century palace, Tullio Massoni has created a small signature vineyard that he wants to turn into art. For that reason its bottles are not sold in a wine store, but in art galleries. And the price also resembles a work of art, 5 thousand euros per bottle or roughly $5,300 at the current exchange rate.

It has barely 646 square feet, and produces 29 bottles of red wine a year. A commercial adventure that Tullio Massoni, an expert in finance, art and entrepreneur, has managed to endow this limited production wine a story worth telling.

Where the grapes for the wine are grown

He grows his grapes on the rooftop of Via Mari 10, the address of the building and the name of the wine itself. The vines, which are Sangiovese, are fed with eggs, bananas, seaweed and mockingbird droppings, according to Masoni.

But he says that their “diet” also includes the voices that come from the neighborhood: the fights, the curses and the various dialects that enrich and contaminate the fruit, giving it an advantage over the grapes of the field, which only enjoy silence.

Far from the speeches of aroma of red fruits, leather, tannins, Massoni does business with art, since many of the bottles are free when people buy works of art in the gallery.

According to their website, there are 10 bottles left from the most recent vintage, 2019, with many from previous years sold out. If you’re still thinking about a Christmas gift, you can invest in art and wine.