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Stacey Vanek-Smith: 2009 might have been a bitter year for the economy, but it was a very good year for Bordeaux. Wine from that region in France is selling for $1,500 a bottle — and it hasn’t even been bottled yet. From London, the BBC’s Rebecca Singer reports.

Rebecca Singer: Wine experts generally agree that the perfect mix of a wet spring and a hot summer has made the 2009 vintage one of the best they can remember. But at more than $1,000 a bottle, who’s going to buy it?

Well, investors are top of the list. But according to Simon Davies from specialist wine merchant Fine & Rare, a lot of the money is coming from China and Hong Kong, where genuine wine-lovers are ready to snap them up.

Simon Davies: You know, it’s nice that these wines won’t necessarily be tied up in investment funds or what have you for, you know, for a decade or more. You know, it’s actually quite nice to think that these are going to admittedly very wealthy, but very wealthy end users. You know, these are actually going to be drunk and so they should be.

And having spent all this money, the wine isn’t even ready to drink yet. It’ll be bottled and stored for 10 or 20 years until the owner decides to taste it. And when they finally do get around to pulling the cork, it’ll be worth a lot more than they paid.

In London, I’m the BBC’s Rebecca Singer for Marketplace.