New Zealand's wine industry may have come under pressure lately, but investors in the country are increasingly putting their cash into first growths.

Although New Zealand boasts its own fine wines, such as Cloudy Bay, these are not considered well-established enough to be a safe bet - but legendary Bordeaux producers such as Lafite Rothschild certainly are, 3news.co.nz reports.

Simon Ward, fine wine expert at auction house Webb's, said interest from Asian markets is helping to sustain high prices - although unlike many investors, they often buy to drink or "show off".

"I always used to joke with people that if the world financial markets collapsed at least I'd have nice wine to drink and not worthless bits of paper," investor Mark Trim, who has spent more than NZ $200,000 (£91,000) on his collection, told the website.

Elsewhere in the wine investment world, the Spanish March Gestion Vini Catena fund recently recorded a nine per cent profit in just six months.