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Singaporeans consumed about S$153.4 million worth of wines last year a 24 percent increase from the previous year.And making the most inroads in the market are Italian wines.

A bottle of wine that comes with a 24-carat gold label and a price tag of S$2,300 has not deterred a small number of buyers in Singapore.

In the past year, the number of Singaporeans buying such luxury wines shot up by 200 percent.

Some of them even have a special vault in the wine-producing regions of Tuscany to store their pricey collection.

Manuele Verdelli, Sales and Marketing Director of Capannelle Winery, said: "In two years, I hope that our sales in Singapore can improve with growth rates around 700 percent, so we are really concentrating our efforts there because in general, Asia growth is around 200 percent, so in Singapore, we expect a lot."

The volume of Italian wines imported to Singapore grew by 64 percent from 2005 to 2006.

Australian and French wines are still in higher demand among general consumers, but this is fast changing in the luxury sector.

Wine connoisseurs said this is because more Italian restaurants are sprouting up in Singapore and discerning wine consumers are demanding greater purity in their wines.

Italy, which has one of the most stringent wine control laws in the world, ensures that their wine quality is top-notch.

Simone Monciatti, a wine-maker from Italy, said: "In Italy, the wine law is stricter than other countries in Europe. The winemaker can't put sugar, pesticides or other kinds of elements in the wine.

"The government controls different steps of this process and if the winemaker makes a mistake, our licence to make wine can be lost."

The attraction of Italian wines also lies in the place it is produced.

In Tuscany, the climate, the high altitude and the abundance of minerals in the soil have made it one of the top five most reputable wine-producing regions in the world.

However, due to global warming and hotter summers, the quality of wine has been affected in the last three years so the prices of vintage bottles are set to increase in the years ahead.