BEIJING - The sharp drop in the price of the legendary wine Chateau Lafite hit a bottom in 2011 and the price has registered a slight increase, according to a report from a Chinese wine exchange.

People discussing wine at an international wine exhibition in Beijing. Experts said the prices of Lafite may have hit the trough and rebounded from January. [Photo/China Daily]

The 2012 Wine Investment Market Annual Report from the Shanghai Wine Exchange says the prices of high-end fine wines underwent a long-term adjustment and decline in 2011. However, they will return to an upward trend this year, with an annual rate of growth of more than 15 percent.

The prices of Chateau Lafite Rothschild, which peaked between 2009 and 2010, declined significantly last year, to the surprise of many investors.

"The price decline started in October and ended in December," said Wang Jiaqi, the business development director of the exchange, which was founded in 2011. "High-end wines, including Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, have seen price growth of between 2 and 3 percent since January."

The prices of high-end wine, the majority of them Lafites, slumped between 50 percent and 80 percent, with some vintages down by between 100 percent and 200 percent, Wang Xinliang, of the Beijing branch of the Shanghai Wine Exchange, told the New Express Daily.

Wang Jiaqi saw the decline in Lafite as a natural market correction. "It is reasonable to see the price fall after becoming a bubble," she said.