Auction house Christie's is to translate the names of all the chateaux in the 1855 Bordeaux classification for the Chinese market.

The firm's head of wine in China, Simon Tam, told Decanter that many of the Bordeaux estates are known by literal translations when listed in Chinese, sometimes not projecting the right image.

Mr Tam explains that the brand Chateau Beychevelle is known as Dragon Boat, due to the Viking longboat on the label, which is beneficial in the Chinese market.

However, Grand-Puy-Lacoste gets associated with the Lacoste clothing brand, and is referred to as Crocodile Wine, after the leisurewear label's crocodile logo.

Mr Tam told the publication: "It's a question of having the language and the cultural knowledge to find the right characters.

"It's essential for our catalogues to be accurate and to have relevance."

Last month, Christie's revealed that it is to produce Chinese tasting notes for Bordeaux, as many of the little French terms mean very little in Mandarin or Cantonese.