Major beverage companies are making deals and reaching joint ventures to boost their offerings of spirits priced at $200-a-bottle and up (?22,000), the fastest-growing segment in the $1 trillion global market for alcoholic drinks.

Louis Vuitton¡¯s wines and spirits division Moet Hennessy and rival Campari last month announced an alliance to sell premium beverages online as they jostle for a piece of the $50 billion global high-end spirits market.

Pernod Ricard, which makes Martell cognac, over the past two years has invested in a number of ¡°superpremium¡± and ¡°ultrapremium brands,¡± including a ¡°significant investment¡± in Japan¡¯s Kyoto Distillery, the producer of ultrapremium gin Ki No Bi. That was followed by the buyout of ultrapremium German brand Monkey 47 gin early last year.