In addition to investing in stocks, real estate and antiques, Chinese billionaires are discovering a new source of big returns - the wine market. The yield rate from some famous French vintages during the first half of this year has exceeded 30 percent, far above any alternative.

The price of historic and exclusive Chateau Lafite Rothschild, from Bordeaux in France and the most popular wine brand in China, is rising monthly. In July, one bottle of the 2007 vintage cost 4,500 yuan (US670). It jumped to 5,000 yuan in August and is expected to exceed 6,000 yuan with the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday around the corner.

"The wine market is new in China and has the most potential," said Jiang Yu, a private vineyard owner who used to be a professional real estate investor. He followed his nose and the money into the more profitable wine industry after the Chinese government tightened property policies this year.

Jin Cunxing from Wenzhou, in East China's Zhejiang province, who is also a former property investor, traveled to Bordeaux six months ago to buy hundreds of bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild.

He said: "I don't know where all these Chinese buyers have come from. The peak season isn't here yet but the price of vintage wines has increased 30 percent this year."

Since there is no general agent for importing foreign wines in China, the number of wine dealers has taken off very fast.

According to Guangzhou Boboqiu Wine Co Ltd, one of the biggest vintage wine importers in China, more than 20 dealers entered the business just between June and August this year.

Xu Weibo, general manager of Hong Kong Fine Wine Auction Limited, told China Daily that the company, founded in November 2009, aimed to provide a marketplace for wine enthusiasts, collectors and sellers to acquire or sell fine and rare wines on the Internet. It estimates up to 60 percent of wine traded on its website ends up on the Chinese mainland.

Xu is a wine collector for investment as well as pleasure. When he swirls wine in a goblet, you could say he is actually managing his assets.

"We have invested in some 60 different fine wine brands around the world worth a total of HK$100 million (US$13 million)," said Xu.

"I believe the average annual rate of return will range from 20 percent to 30 percent."

With more than four years of wine investment experience, Xu said investors should first master good knowledge of wine culture and collection as well as wine investment skills, and then enter the business cautiously.

"In the wine world, the ones that are worth collecting and investing in only account for 0.1 percent of the total," he said.

There are mainly two ways to carry out wine investment: buy the actual product or buy wine futures (also known as "en primeur").

Both of them tend to be long-term investments in the western world but the current behavior in China is more like hot money speculation.

En primeur is a method of purchasing wines early while a vintage is still in a barrel, offering the customer the opportunity to invest in a particular wine before it is bottled. Payment is made at an early stage, a year or 18 months prior to the official release of a vintage.