If you had been putting your money in top growth Bordeaux since 2002/2003, you’d be quite well off right now. The reason? Demand and price have surged out east.

The diagram above, yoinked from The Economist blog, shows how the increase in production in China and their demand for oil to power it is also fuelling a demand for Top Bordeaux.

See it in action: Mouton & Lafite 2008

A good example of this surge in demand (and madness to be honest) is with Mouton Rothschild, who use a different artist for their label every year (having featured Picasso, Dali, Bacon, and Warhol in the past).

The announcement of a popular Chinese artist, Xu Lei, as their 2008 pick saw prices surge from £1,800 to £6,000. That’s a pretty nice return.

Similarly, news that bottles from the Lafite Rothschild ’08 vintage will be engraved with lucky number 8, an auspicious number for many Chinese people, has seen prices of their 2008 reach £10,000 a case.

For us, there’s always Chile!