Before the real estate crisis started a few years ago, I used to speculate privately that the enormous Chinese foreign exchange reserves (about $1 trillion then) might be related to the then sustained trend of rising prices for assets across a number categories - real estate, for example, precious metals, and equities in general. I don't know how the relationship between forex reserves and money supply is regulated in China, but it seems that one way or another, savings on that scale seeking even a small return would tend to bid up and so inflate asset prices in places like the U.S. and much of Europe, where political stability and relatively sophisticated financial market rule sets confer, historically, fairly good investment security.
Yada yada, don't know if this thought chain holds a drop of water, but the bidding up of Lafite would be of a piece with it.
Anyway, I hope Chinese fine wine demand remains focused on Bordeaux.
