(Forbes) - “Asians are ferocious learners of anything they set their heart to. When they do jump on something, like wine, they do so en masse,” says Mandy Chan, partner of fine wine importing company Ginsberg & Chan. For Chan, Burgundy now makes up 40% of total sales and they carry nearly 1,000 different Burgundy wines on their list.

For auction houses like Acker Merrall, Burgundy’s share of the market was larger than Bordeaux starting in 2014 – 41% compared with 32% for Bordeaux. Acker Merrall, an American company that first started wine auctions in Hong Kong in 2008, now runs much its business out of Hong Kong. In 2015, Hong Kong auctions raised US$33 million in sales while New York only rang up $30.6 million.

At Christie’s wine auctions, Burgundy lots far surpassed their estimates. Recent examples include: three bottles of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti 2009 estimated at HK$34,936 (US$4,500) which sold for HK$269,500 (US$34,716) in Dr Ku’s single-owner sale in 2015; six bottles of a mixed lot from 2010 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti estimated at HK$55,579 (US$7,160) and sold for HK$428,750 (US$55,230) in the same sale. In 2014, the wines from the former Chief Secretary of Hong Kong, Henry Tang, broke records: Six magnums of 1995 Romanee-Conti sold for HK$1,210,000 (US$155,879) when the auction estimate price was only HK$156,741 (US$20,191).