Update 30 Jun 2011: more insights in an animated discussion on the forum about why Chinese buy Lafite.
You may remember an article, The legend of Lafite, I wrote a few months ago about my quest to discover why Lafite maintains such a price premium over the other first growths in China. George Zhao, a friend who writes about wine in China, sends the following explanation, which is much more convincing than any of the hypotheses advanced in my article.
I think perhaps I can give you some ideas about the conundrum you mentioned if the curiosity of yours...