Wine merchants from the Burgundy region are downbeat over the lavish spending by Chinese wine enthusiasts, it is claimed.

The recent Hospices de Beaune auction in Burgundy generated around €5.13 million (£4.31 million) in revenue, with 13 per cent coming from Chinese bidders, according to Bloomberg.

This interest pushed the value of 2010 Hospices reds up 12.5 per cent, but this was not good news for the Burgundy negociants who are seeing over-inflated prices.

"It's most sad. Hospices wines were already way too expensive and 2010 is by no means near a great vintage," Jean-Francois Rateau, proprietor of Caveau de Chassagne Montrachet, told the news provider.

Chinese buyers are certainly a target market for the Burgundy region as a whole.

The Burgundy marketing body BIVB recently announced it had put together a €400,000 (£336,000) marketing budget to follow Bordeaux's lead and boost awareness of the region's wine in the Far East.