China Pushes Bordeaux Prices Higher

In early July, Hart Davis Hart Wine Co. began advance sales of Château Lafite Rothschild’s 2009 Bordeaux at $18,000 a case.

Within four days, the Chicago-based retailer and auction house had sold out. But its supplier’s price had risen, and Hart Davis Hart now sells the 12-bottle cases for future delivery at $23,000—about $1,900 a bottle…

But wine makers and merchants also credit booming demand from emerging economies, especially that of China, where labels like Lafite and Margaux have joined Prada and Hermés as badges of wealth. Last year, China passed the U.S. to become Bordeaux’s biggest export market by volume outside Europe.. – WSJ