Wealthy Chinese Developing a Taste for Wine

And they're not going for the cheap plonk, either:

Fine wine, the latest in chic among China's nouveau riche
Zhang Yucheng, a real-estate magnate in Beijing, likes French wine so much he decided to build a private wine cellar and stock it with 2,000 bottles of France's finest.

And then there's the 100 million euro (125 million dollar) replica of the legendary chateau Maisons-Laffitte that he built on top, which he fittingly named the "Zhang-Laffitte" domaine.

After reigning uncontested for 25 years as the prestige beverage of choice among China's burgeoning nouveau riche, Cognac has been dethroned by fine grape wine, preferably foreign and expensive...

The great wealth generated by one of the most spectacular economic booms in history has not only fueled a thirst for prize bottles from Bordeaux and Napa Valley, but also a hunger for the Western lifestyles they represent, analysts say.