BMWs and Gucci handbags are already firm favourites among China's emerging class of newly rich. Now, fine wines are becoming the latest symbol of luxury.

For people like senior executive Wang Jie, it is an obvious choice to make."It tastes better than beer or rice wine, and it's better for your health,"Wang said at a wine tasting event at a top Beijing hotel. Wang, who started buying wine ten years ago, estimates he buys around 80 bottles a year, some costing up to $130 a piece. "I'm drinking increasingly expensive stuff. At first only 100 or 200 yuan a bottle, but now up to 1,000 yuan," said the smartly dressed businessman.

That's music to the ears of Don St Pierre, chairman of Chinese wine importer ASC Fine Wines. "Probably, the fastest growing part of our business is the premium wine end, in particular Bordeaux first growths from the five great chateaux,"he said.'It's just booming unbelievably. So our biggest challenge is having enough wine here to supply the demand," St Pierre added.

Earlier this year, a Chinese man bought carry-on wine and spirits worth a record $31,180 at a Paris airport's duty-free shop- including a bottle of epic 1945 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, red wine costing 13,800 euros.

In Beijing, a French vintage recently sold for more than 70,000 yuan, many times more than the average Chinese person makes in a year.

China does make its own wine, including brands like Great Wall and Dynasty, but it lacks the cachet and quality of a good French vintage, experts say. 'I think people are starting to understand the notion of quality brands,"prince Robert of Luxembourg, owner of French vineyard Chateau Haut-Brion, said during a visit to Beijing last week. "The luxury brand has ignited interest in the Chinese market. There's been a lot of work done by a lot of these luxury groups -they're very visible here. I think the timing is right for us," he said.

Though Robert estimated the Chinese market was currently small for his winery, the potential was huge.

Source:佚名