Last year it was a Chinese business group that bought up 收购 Chateau la Tour le Grande, a leading Bordeaux vintage 佳酿/美酒。

Now the interest is in the other direction, but Domaines Barons de Rothschild, the company which owns the elite 优秀的 Chateau Lafite premier cru, has invested in 投资 land near Penglai in the Shandon peninsula, an area with climatic conditions 气候条件 similar to those in Bordeaux.

Over the years it hopes to develop a world-class 顶级/世界级 top-quality Chinese wine. Christophe Salin is a director at the Domaines Barons de Rothschild:

"I think we have isolated a very nice part in the region of Penglai where we can first of all plant a small vineyard 葡萄园, twenty-five hectares 公顷, where we think we can achieve a great wine. But I mean we will be judged by generations."

The reason behind the move is simple. As a nation, China is now among the world's leading consumers 消费者 of wine. By 2011 it's reckoned that the Chinese will be drinking more than one billion bottles a year.

The vast 巨大的 majority of what they consume is home-grown 国产, but they have a weakness for the great French vintages.

For Chateau Lafite it's an obvious business opportunity 商业机会: to be a great French name in China.