Two leading economists have found an interesting fine wine market trend, which has seen the value of produce from popular chateaux such as Lafite Rothschild and Petrus fluctuate with oil price.

Details of research carried out by Serhan Cevik and Tahsin Saadi Sedik published in the Economist revealed that over the last 12 years there has been a 90 per cent correlation between changes in oil price and changes in wine price.

While prudent investors are unlikely to treat the two markets as synonymous with each other on this basis - the economists' resulting model for why this has occurred reveals much about how closely fine wine has been tied to emerging economy development.

According to the extracts published by the newspaper, declines in oil consumption in rich countries over the last few years has been matched by increased demand in emerging economies such as China.

Similarly, the rate of fine wine spending growth in these markets has also helped boost demand for this commodity, the economists claim.

Last week, Bloomberg noted that an emerging Indian middle class is beginning to develop a taste for fine wines from Bordeaux to Burgundy.

Speaking to the news agency, bar tending instructor Rohan Jelkhie suggested that there is a certain set of people that are becoming more discerning when it comes to wine.