Ever since the ‘Judgement of Paris’ in 1976, Californian wine has gone from strength to strength.

A handful of West Coast superstars now rub shoulders with the ‘greats’ of the Old-World. And no one epitomises this meteoric rise more than Screaming Eagle. Along with Harlan Estate, this property now possesses ‘must own’ status amongst serious global collectors.

For a start, Screaming Eagle has strong claim to being the highest-rated winery in the world.

Since its debut vintage in 1992, Wine Advocate has rated 22 vintages of Screaming Eagle and has scored no less than seven of them a perfect 100 points. That is a ‘perfection’ ratio of 31.8 percent, the highest in our database of established producers. Harlan Estate, with nine perfect vintages out of 29 does comes close, but its ‘perfect’ percentage is lower.

The winery is one of the most secretive in the world. Almost no one is allowed to visit (including many famous critics), and their website doesn’t even acknowledge their flagship wine.

We single out Screaming Eagle’s 2016 vintage as potentially the greatest ever Screaming Eagle (and maybe the best American wine in history) for three main reasons:

1. It is the only Screaming Eagle with a clean sweep of 100-point scores from the three most influential critics.
2. It comes from probably the best ever Napa Cabernet vintage to date, which is 2016.
3. Screaming Eagle is the highest-ranking American winery in the Live ex Power 100 list.

The combination of three 100-point scores from Wine Advocate, Vinous and James Suckling makes the 2016 vintage unique. But the quality of the vintage is equally important. The 2016 Napa Valley vintage is rated ‘Extraordinary’ and scored 98 points by Wine Advocate. Only the 2013 vintage comes close to it in Napa’s modern history.

Screaming Eagle’s incredible demand profile shows clearly when we look at price. Live ex ranks all wine fine wine producers based on their average trade value on the Live ex exchange. Screaming Eagle comes in at 4th place of all wineries in the world.

Of course Screaming Eagle is very expensive compared to most other wines. But what is important is relative price, adjusted for quality. We have a proprietary tool (free on our platform) which does this analysis. It shows that Screaming Eagle 2016 is actually significantly undervalued for its quality.

Our model suggests a fair value for Screaming Eagle 2016 of 4435 US Dollars per bottle, which is 14.4 per cent above the current price.

Over the last decade, Screaming Eagle has enjoyed stellar performance on the secondary market. The 100-point vintages, especially, have risen dramatically in price.

Screaming Eagle 2010 was, according to Live ex, trading at 1,595 US Dollars per bottle in February 2013. Today its market price is 4,325 US Dollars, a rise of 171 per cent, or a compound annual growth rate of 10.48 percent over 10 years, a truly remarkable performance.

Screaming Eagle is owned by billionaire Stan Kroenke and family (net worth 12.9 billion US Dollars according to Forbes magazine).

Kroenke’s stewardship has remained faithful to the legacy of the estate, upholding its commitment to excellence, and eschewing glitzy promotions (no celebrity endorsements, or NFTs here). However, there is a clear ambition for Screaming Eagle to be fashioned into one of the very best wines in the world, with a price tag to match - and that is a favourable wind to sail behind as a collector.

Although Screaming Eagle has achieved an impressive price point, it has plenty of headroom above it, especially given its minuscule production.
Its market price still lags well behind other global icons with similar critical acclaim.

This monumental wine will now improve and develop for 40 to 50 years at least. The threat of disruption to supply in the future is just one more reason why we believe that collectors with a long-term outlook should target Screaming Eagle 2016. This wine deserves to be positioned alongside other greats like Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Pétrus as a core holding in in any triple A portfolio.