Bordeaux hoofs it into Asia

AT CHATEAU Latour in Pauillac, horses plough the vineyards just as they did in the 14th century, when vines were first grown on the estate. But this is a recent return to tradition at Latour, one of the five renowned ''Premier Grand Crus'' of Bordeaux, and it's based on sound commercial considerations rather than sentimentality.

Fine-wine prices have surged because of an explosion of interest from China and other Asian countries in recent years. Unable to increase production - land is limited and there can be only one harvest a year - Bordeaux's leading producers focus relentlessly on quality. The reintroduction of horses is part of that drive for quality - they plough with more precision than tractors and do far less damage to the soil and vines, some of which are 100 years old.

Prices plummeted in the wake of the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008 but the setback was short-lived. Last year, top-end bordeaux outperformed not just equities, but gold and crude oil, too, according to Liv-ex, which tracks the prices of the top-five Bordeaux chateaus. Its Fine Wine 50 Index rose by 57 per cent last year, far outstripping gold (up 35 per cent), crude oil (20 per cent) and the FTSE 100 (11 per cent).

China last year overtook Britain and Germany to become the leading export market by value for Bordeaux wines. And the Chinese are not just buying bordeaux by the bottle and case but by the vineyard, too - earlier this year, Cofco, the huge Chinese state-owned conglomerate and owner of the Great Wall wine brand, bought a 20-hectare estate, Chateau de Viaud. It is unlikely to be the last such deal. Last month, a single bottle of 1961 Chateau Latour sold to a Chinese buyer for £135,000 ($A208,113) at auction in Hong Kong, more than three times the expected price.

Robert Parker, the world's most influential wine critic, has warned of a speculative bubble in bordeaux prices and that the region, which he has done much to promote, is in danger of pricing itself out of the European market as it chases wealthy Asian buyers. Not everyone agrees: ''There is no bordeaux bubble,'' says Sam Gleave of Bordeaux Index. ''People are drinking as much as ever.''