While 2012 is proving a problematic time for investors in some of the more established vineyards, opportunities are plentiful in less familiar quarters, with Australian fine wine such as Penfolds leaving for Asia at an astonishing rate.
The Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 Index, which tracks the last 10 vintages of five Bordeaux - Latour, Lafite, Haut Brion, Margaux and Mouton Rothschild - has remained flat since the beginning of July.
 Asian buyers are flocking to Penfolds |
Yet the Penfolds label is earning itself a huge reputation around the world, and particularly in China, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Values of 1998 Penfolds Grange have risen by 30% in the past two years, reports the Drinks Business, as Asian buyers look for alternative prestige bottles to Bordeaux and Burgundy.
China's rapidly expanding number of wealthy individuals are famed for their love of status buys, with Penfolds and Torbreck The Laird leading the pack of Australian bottles.
"The Asian market is starting to catch on to Australian fine wine," Matthew Jukes, an expert on Australian wine, told the publication.
"The Chinese in particular love the taste, because their virginal palates are suited to fruit-forward, sweeter, riper wines. Their sheer deliciousness in youth is so much more appealing than tannic Bordeaux."
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