The recent catastrophic events in Japan will not impact the Far Eastern wine market for very long, it has been claimed.

As the country recovers from the earthquake and tsunami, confidence in the Asian wine market has been dented slightly, according to award-winning writer Andrew Jefford.

Writing for Decanter, he says that Hong Kong will remain the key battleground for wine auctions in 2011, driven by the "uncomplicated curiosity" towards French wine from wealthy Chinese enthusiasts.

However, Mr Jefford also notes that with Chinese interest pushing prices up and import regulations raising the cost of Bordeaux even higher, the UK still remains a "very attractive" place to buy wine.

In a bid to maximise the potential from the Chinese wine investment market, Christie's auction recently announced it would be producing Chinese tasting notes for Bordeaux.

The firm's head of wine in China, Simon Tam, explained that traditional adjectives for Bordeaux wine often mean very little when translated into Chinese.