Smaller Bordeaux vineyards need to learn how to market their wines correctly in order to survive, an expert has claimed.

Critic Matt Kramer, writing for Wine Spectator, believes that the Bordeaux region as a whole is struggling to compete with the likes of Burgundy, Super Tuscans or those wines from the Piedmont region of Italy.

While Chinese wine enthusiasts are producing great demand for the First Growth Bordeaux such as Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau Latour, many of the 20,000 smaller growers from the region do not know how to make themselves known, Mr Kramer suggests.

The writer goes on to suggest that smaller Bordeaux estates have failed to evolve with the modern world of marketing and packaging. As such, he concludes, many fine wines could face the possibility of being lost.

However, things may be improving for the smaller estates. The Wall Street Journal recently noted that the ever-escalating price of First Growth Bordeaux is creating a backlash, pushing wine enthusiasts to look at smaller estates instead.