Though the exact reason for Asia’s recent domination of the global wine market has remained a subject of debate among the oenologically inclined, the two-day sale that concluded Sunday night at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong further confirmed the region's continued supremacy in that arena. The auction house netted a total of $HK107 million ($14 million), with every one of the 1,366 lots on offer selling, most at prices that Serena Sutcliffe, Sotheby’s worldwide head of wine, described as "astonishing."

"Asia is driving the world wine market right now," said Robert Sleigh, Sotheby’s head of wine in Asia. "In the past year we have sold more wine out of Hong Kong than we have out of London and New York combined. When you consider that we only held our first wine auction here in April 2009, that’s a very steep takeoff." Explanations for the continent's strong thirst for fine vintages have ranged from the financial downturn's dampening effect on demand inAmerica and Europe to the strength of the Chinese economy to thedecision of Hong Kong authorities to lower the tax on wine sales from80 percent to zero.

On the first day of the sales, a vast selection of blue-chip classic Bordeaux and Burgundy wines was on offer from the cellar of Texas collector Marcus D. Hiles. Among them was the largest selection from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti ever sold in Asia, including 15 cases of La Tache and 74 bottles and three magnums of Romanée-Conti of various vintages. The majestic 1990, as rare in the wine world as the snow leopard is in the wild, was represented by a single bottle that fell to the hammer at $HK85,000 ($10,958). The most expensive lot of the two days was a case of Romanée-Conti 2005, knocked down for $HK1.5 million ($193,370).

The lots on the second day were nearly all Bordeaux, the sixth tranche of holdings from an unnamed American collector. Incredible selections of all five Bordeaux first growths, including multiple lots of cases and large-format bottles, were knocked down in crackling bidding wars between phone and floor. The Petrus — a lot of three double magnums of the 1989 — set the day’s record at a hammer price of $HK600,000 ($77,348). Despite the large sums of money at stake, the mood in the hall was relaxed: the biggest buyer on the floor was an affable Chinese mainlander in a Polo shirt who spent the day chatting to friends whilst bidding five- and six-figure sums for some of the finest wines available.

Despite the power and energy of the Chinese market, collectors there "still buy in a narrow band," according to Sleigh. He pointed to the stellar prices paid for first growth Bordeaux, and said that interest in magnificent second growth wines was simply not as strong. But Sleigh is confident that consumer tastes will broaden. "There’s a genuine wine boom in Asia," he said. "It’s like the U.S.A. ten or fifteen years ago. It’s about lifestyle and the choices people make about spending their money.”

Additionally, Chinese buyers may be chasing high investment returns. According to China Daily, Chinese billionaires are finding that premium French wine vintages have provided yield rates of over 30 percent in the first half of 2010 — making it a better investment than most real-estate properties, stocks, and antiques. The worry is that the Chinese might be creating a bubble in the market. The report noted that the French fine wine index (the Liv-100 Index) is up 37 percent from a year ago, and there seems little doubt that Chinese expenditure is the main driver of this effect. For Sleigh, prediction of a bubble in the market is a chancy business. “We just don’t know where this is heading,” he said.

Sotheby’s next Hong Kong wine sale, a two-day auction of the finest Bordeaux on October 29 and 30, could help provide part of the answer.