Wine investors will be happier than those preferring to drink fine wines to read that an index tracking sought-after fine wines said that prices hit an all time high this month, therewith recovering from the great fall in prices during the financial crisis.

The Liv-ex 100 Fine Wine Index, which tracks prices of 100 most sought-after fine wines, reached the level of 265 at the end of March, one point above the previous all-time high set about two years ago.

“This new high completes a remarkable turnaround for the fine wine sector, which was hit hard by the global credit crisis,” said James Miles, a director of Liv-ex.

Miles added that prices had fallen by 25 per cent following the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

“In the last eighteen months they have regained all of this lost ground,” he added.

In paricular prices have gone up due to increased demand from Hong Kong and China. The index increased by more than 27 per cent in the past year.

In the past five years the index has increased by an impressive 166 per cent.

Founded in 1999, Liv-ex, the London International Vintners Exchange, runs an internet- and phone-based trading and settlement platform for fine wine merchants and professionals.