Year-on-year, the indices were up 40.8 per cent and 52.4 per cent with the positive returns coming at a time when most stock markets were relatively weak. The Wine Investment Fund (TWIF) claimed evidence has emerged that the market is in a new phase in terms of favoured brands. Lafite, in particular, has underperformed the other first growths for two months in a row, and at precisely the time when Chinese demand might have been expected to be high, in advance of the New Year celebrations.