Chinese wine enthusiasts have snapped up more valuable Bordeaux estates.

Chateau Lezongars and Chateau Grand Branet are in the Entre-Deux-Mers region, producing AOC Bordeaux and AOC Cotes de Bordeaux, Decanter reports.

The prices have not been revealed, but Chateau Lezongars has been on the market since 2009, when it was priced at €4.2 million (£3.5 million).

Two other estates, Chateau Grand Moueys and one as-yet unnamed property, have signed letters of intent for sales to Chinese investors, and the deals are expected to be completed "within weeks".

Alexander Hall of advisory service Vineyard Intelligence told Decanter.com that many of the estates had been on the market for some time with little interest.

"It is my guess that very few of these estates would have been showing a consistent profit and that puts off anyone who does not have distribution in place.

"Enter the Chinese, who want the big Entre-Deux-Mers or AOC Bordeaux-style chateaux and have no problem with the distribution side."

The announcement of the sales comes just days after it was revealed that the Bordeaux vineyard Chateau Monlot in St Emilion has been sold to Chinese film star Zhao Wei.

Should all four of the latest purchases go through, it would push the total number of Chinese-owned properties in Bordeaux towards 20.

Gavin Quinney, owner of Chateau Bauduc, said Chinese interest is coming at just the right time for some embattled estate owners.

"Local Bordeaux chateaux, all within a few miles of each other, have been snapped up by the Chinese in little more than a month, and they won't be the last. For some chateaux that struggle to sell their wine, China really is a 'get out of jail free' card," he said.