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Veuve Clicquot is allocating just 10 bottles of its $3,600 champagne for southeast Asia

From CNN Financial Correspondent Lian Pek

HONG KONG (CNN) -- The turn of the century still is months away. But people around the world are expecting Year 2000 parties to be the biggest in decades, so they're already stocking up on party favorites like champagne.

Except in Asia.

"Overall, I see fairly little millennium champagne purchasing," said Clive McLaughlin, with Watson's Wine Cellar. "I think it will really kick in once autumn starts."

But there's no guarantee the party spirit will pick up in Asia.

"It's just a normal day. It's nothing special," said one Asian woman.

According to the French champagne board, Asia accounted for only 4.6 percent of the global export market in 1998. That compared to 19.5 percent in the United States and 72 percent for Europe.

And even if they do eventually get in the spirit of celebrating the new year, few Asians are likely to pay the $3,600 that Veuve Clicquot wants for one limited edition bubbly.

The champagne house knows this.

"I think the impact of the millennium will be less such a bang (in Asia) as compared with Europe," said Vita Wong-Kwok with Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin.

The company has allocated only 10 of the limited edition bottles for the entire Southeast Asian market. Hundreds are being released worldwide.

One reason champagne is not more popular in Asia: the color.

"Red wine, of course, is the most favorite drink in the East because the red color is the fortunate color," said Thomas Lam with Classico Consultancy.

Mix the color scheme with Asia's general apathy about the new year, and the party seems likely to fall pretty flat.