After a year in which “real assets” have been often favoured by wealthy investors, data from a London-based electronic exchange shows that the market for holding fine wines outperformed gold, oil and equities in 2010, driven by strong emerging market demand.

The Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 Index, produced by the Liv-ex Exchange, tracks the top five Bordeaux brands across ten different vintages; it rose by almost 60 per cent in 2010, having broken through the 400 point barrier at the end of December (it was based at 100 in January 2004).

Over the past 10 years, the exchange has delivered an annual compound return of 12.5 per cent.

The index is made up of five Bordeaux “First Growths”: Haut Brion, Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Margaux and Mouton Rothschild. It includes only the ten most recent vintages (excluding en primeur, currently 1998-2007).

Strong demand from Asian markets, particularly Hong Kong and China, has been the main driver of rising prices, Liv-ex said.

“As we move into 2011, the market continues to be led by Lafite Rothschild, which has a very strong following in China. Multiple vintages of this Bordeaux First Growth have doubled in price over the last 12 months. Encouragingly, however, the market broadened considerably in the last few months of 2010 to encompass a number of its Bordeaux peers. We are also starting to see signs that demand is increasing for top Burgundy and Sauternes,” said James Miles, a director at Liv-ex exchange.