China thirst for wine eeds new investment market

China is already the fastest-growing wine consumption market globally, and industry experts say wealthy Chinese business people are now also developing an appetite for the investment opportunity that wine offers.

"Wine is a very passionate subject, much more so than stocks and shares. It's a passion as well as an investment for our clients," said Stephen Wickens, the managing director of Wickens & Co, a Hong Kong-based wine investment firm.

Two thirds of the 18-month-old company's clients, totalling about 500, come from China and Hong Kong. Wickens reckons his client base will double next year.

"Right now Asia is really driving the demand. The traditional markets of Europe and America are very slow," he said on the sidelines of a wine trade fair in Hong Kong this month, which drew a record 934 exhibitors.

Hong Kong has capitalised on the rapid expansion of personal wealth in China to become the dynamic centre of Asia's wine trade since it abolished duties on wine imports in 2008.

Wine imports are poised to set a new record after surging nearly 60 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2011 to US$940 million. The figure stood at $895 million in 2010, up 73 percent from $517 million in 2009.