Bordeaux winemakers are hoping that a new trade agreement will help them to regain a large part of the South Korean wine market share.

French wine imports accounted for 46 per cent of the wine market in the Asian country back in 1999, according to Agence France-Presse.

However, since the government of Chile signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with Seoul in 2003, the tables have turned. Chilean wine now accounts for 23 per cent of the South Korean market, while French bottles have taken just 16 per cent.

Allan Sichel, president of Bordeaux's wine merchant union, told the news agency that this new trade agreement between South Korea and the EU will go a long way to levelling the playing field again.

"We've been suffering in Korea since the Chileans got their trade agreement," he explained.

"Back then the EU was not yet contemplating FTAs with Asian partners," added EU Commission trade spokesman John Clancy.

Bordeaux chateaux will be hoping they can have the same impact on South Korea that they have had on China in recent months.

Chinese desire for top Bordeaux is such that Anthony Eaton of the JM Finn Global Opportunities Fund suggests that the far east is now the premier market for fine wine from the region.