PARIS — When Chateau Lafite chief executive Christophe Salin set a modest price for the 2008 vintage in April 2009, the financial world was melting down. Today, a robust market led by China and a lucky "8" have pushed up prices on the grand cru by 590 percent. It was a smart move by Lafite to emboss the Chinese character for "8" on its 2008 bottles, said George Tong, a prominent Hong Kong businessman and wine collector. That fueled a gold rush for fine wine investors. "The pronunciation of ?8? in Chinese rhymes with that of the word ?fortune?," explained Tong. "The Chinese are superstitious and believe that having an ?8? engraved on the bottle will bring fortune and make a nice gift."