Ultra-luxury hoteliers can expect new competition from French luxury goods company LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the Wall Street Journal reports.

LVMH also said it created LVMH Hotel Management to “oversee the group’s activities in the luxury hotel sector” and to “maximise the value of its brands,”.

Two new hotels, named Cheval Blanc after LVMH’s vineyard, are currently being built in Oman and Egypt and are proposed to open in 2012.

The Maison Cheval Blanc in Oman is on the 11 square- kilometer island of Al Sodah and includes 32 private villas, LVMH said.

Sotheby’s will auction off a melchior of Château Cheval Blanc 2006 on Feb. 17 in London, as part of a “finest and rarest wines and vintage Port” auction.

The melchior sized bottle, which is 18 litres in volume is expected to fetch up to 4,800 GBP.

The melchior weighs in at 25kg, is 75cm high with a circumference of 70cm and contains enough wine to pour 144 glasses of wine.

LVMH has bought a 50% stake in St-Emilion’s Château Cheval Blanc from its billionaire chairman and controlling shareholder, Bernard Arnault.

However financial terms were not disclosed in the release, which pointedly failed to mention that LVMH was acquiring the Bordeaux wine from Arnault.

Arnault, reputedly France’s richest man, bought Cheval-Blanc with Belgian businessman Albert Frère in 1998 for a reported €155m.