December 22, 2008

Better with Age

The Lanesborough—a St. Regis property located adjacent to the grounds of Buckingham Palace in London’s Hyde Park area—recently added the world’s oldest known cognac to their apical assemblage of vintage cognacs, whiskies, Armagnacs, and Cuban cigars. Distilled in 1770 and predating both the French Revolution and the birth of the United States, the pre-phylloxera cognac will be sold for $6,000 per 50ml shot. Experts say this historic spirit, which is thought to have come from the Domaine de Bonneville, should have flavors of hazelnut and tobacco, with a strong overtone of oak, no doubt from the roughly 60 years of cask aging they believe it underwent after distillation. Shown is the Lanesborough library bar. (+44.20.7259.5599, www.lanesborough.com)

December 10, 2008

A Wine for All Seasons

Oenophiles seeking a new wine experience may do well to sample the seasonal offerings of the Meadowood Vintners Collection. Members receive four bottles of Napa Valley red wines in each of the four seasons. The wines—not available in stores—arrive in a wooden crate, accompanied by tasting notes from Gilles de Chambure, Meadowood’s director of wine education. The winter offerings are a 2005 V Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon (St. Helena); a 2005 Aprile Super Oakville Blend; a 2005 Continuum red wine (Oakville); and, tentatively, a 2004 Ristow Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (Oakville). The fall sample contained a 2004 Quixote Petit Syrah; a 2005 Calafia (a Meritage blend); a 2004 AZS Cabernet Sauvignon; and a 2003 V red table wine from Viader. The Vintners Collection, launched by Meadowood last spring, runs $450 per quarterly shipment, plus shipping and handling. (800.458.8080, www.meadowoodvintnerscollection.com)

—Debra Ryono

November 25, 2008

Cabernet Club

The Stags Leap District Winegrowers Association has completed one of its longtime goals for its 12^th Annual Appellation Collection: A bottle of 2004 cabernet sauvignon is included from all 15 of its members, marking the first time it is offering the same vintage and varietal in one collection. The set offers wine lovers the opportunity to taste across the Stags Leap District, a small sub-appellation of Napa Valley, and includes cabernets from Baldacci Family Vineyards, Clos Du Val, Pine Ridge Winery, and Stags Leap Winery. The year 2004 marked a particularly great vintage in Napa Valley due to the sufficient winter rainfall, a warm spring, and an exceptionally hot summer that led to an intense crop of small grapes and an early harvest. Only 300 cases of the 2004 Appellation Collection are available, offered exclusively through the Stags Leap District Winegrowers Association at $1,200 per case. (www.stagsleapdistrict.com)

—Alexandra Foster

November 10, 2008

Message on a Bottle

Even the most exceptional whisky could be interpreted as a one-size-fits-all gift. Johnnie Walker has solved that problem by offering customized engraving on individual bottles of its coveted Blue Label blend. Your personalized messages can be up to 45 characters on three lines, and, if words fail you, standard phrases in Chinese, Korean, and Hindi are always an option. The engraved bottles are available by purchasing a $250 bottle directly from Johnnie Walker’s call center. There is no fee for the service, but the buyer is responsible for the cost of shipping, which takes between 7 and 10 business days. For those who do not wish to wait, Johnnie Walker has arranged for engraving kiosks at in New York at the Time Warner Center from November 14 to January 4, and Grand Central Station from December 1 to 31; in Washington, D.C., at Union Station from December 3 to January 3; and in Hackensack, N.J., at the Shops at Riverside from December 1 to 31. Though it is faster, it is not necessarily more convenient: You need to bring your own bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label. (877.592.5835, www.johnniewalker.com)

—Debra Ryono

October 28, 2008

Cognac for the Holidays

The last examples of a rare collection of cognac bottles designed by Art Deco artist Erté will be released this holiday season from Courvoisier. The spirits company is selling the final eight sets composed of seven different Art Deco bottles each, originally designed by artist Erté in the 1980s and stored by Courvoisier until now. Each depicts a different step in the cognac-making process, from Vine, Harvest, and Distillation to Aging, Tasting, Spirit, and the Angel’s Share, which symbolizes part of the aging process where some of the spirit’s volume is lost through evaporation. The bottles will hold a rare blend of the finest cognacs from the Grande Champagne region, including one dating back to 1892, the year Erté was born. Each collection is $10,000, and a small number of individual bottles are being sold for $1,450. (www.courvoisier.com)

—Alexandra Foster

October 14, 2008

Wine Lover’s Finishing School

A chef with two Michelin stars and one of the world’s 100 certified Master Sommeliers will team up at Meadowood Napa Valley resort for two international dining and wine etiquette weekends to be held February 27- March 1 and March 20-22, 2009. Master Sommelier Gilles de Chambure and chef Christopher Kostow of the Restaurant at Meadowood will provide an overview of various wine-producing regions, including Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Argentina, and Chile. Guests will enjoy two meals pairing international wines with regional dishes and an excursion to nearby winery Viader. Etiquette expert Deborah King will teach country-specific behaviors from formal to casual, including making toasts and extending regional-specific greetings. The weekend, with two nights’ lodging at Meadowood, meals, and etiquette courses extending throughout the weekend, is $2,450 per person or $3,800 per couple. (www.meadowood.com)

—Alexandra Foster

September 16, 2008

Sotheby’s to Showcase Fine Wine

Aulden Cellars and Sotheby’s will hold the first of four wine sales on September 20 in New York featuring 1,361 various-owned lots. It is estimated to generate between $2.3 million and $3.3 million and includes such esteemed brands as Dom Perignon―whose three magnums of vintage 1971 are expected to sell for $6,000―as well as wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhône, and California. Among the prized lots are six bottles of California’s Harlan Estate 1997, which is expected to reach up to $9,000. Shown is Chateau Cheval Blanc 1990, offered twice in the inaugural sale. Three more sales will follow throughout the season, one each month through December, including an evening sale on Tuesday, October 28. (www.sothebys.com)

September 10, 2008

Out of the Black and Into the White

Less than a year after Bowmore Distillery’s fourth and final release of Black Bowmore—a $4,500 limited release of 827 bottles, aged for 42 years in oak oloroso casks—the company has announced its next expression, White Bowmore, available this fall. The single-malt whisky was distilled on November 5, 1964, the same day as Black Bowmore, and matured in the same below-sea-level cellar on the island of Islay. Matured in bourbon casks, the White Bowmore exhibits an alluring pale blond color rich with the flavors of tropical fruit, honey, and vanilla. Of the 732 bottles filled, 40 are destined to the U.S. market at a suggested price of $6,000. Though, if demand for Black Bowmore is any indication, that price will likely rise. (www.bowmore.com)

—Oliver Slosser

August 26, 2008

Rare Cognac Finally Available

Courvoisier’s J.S. Succession, created to mark the bicentennial of Napoleon’s crowning as the Emperor of France on December 2, 1804, is still fighting customs to become available in the U.S. To date, insiders are reporting a 2009 or early 2010 release, but those anxious to get their hands on this limited-edition cognac of just 2,500 bottles ($4,000 each) can purchase it from Harrod’s in London. The Cognac consists of a blend of single-estate vintages that date back from 1910 to 1945 and were sourced from a fifth-generation cognac maker in the Grande Champagne area. The producer’s personal reserves were deemed so extraordinary that when Courvoisier purchased the remaining stock from the producer’s family after his death, they decided not to blend it with eaux-de-vie sourced from other producers. The bottle comes inscribed with the supplier’s initials—J.S.—and is packaged in a one-sixteenth replica of Napoleon I’s war chest (the original, called the Chest of Secrets, is kept at the Courvoisier Chateau in Jarnac, France). The cognac delivers a delicate aroma of vanilla, caramel, leather, and smoke carried out with an extremely complex and multilayered effect on the palate, which includes chocolate, coconut, and cigar followed by a very fine attack of anise and soft pepper on finish. (www.courvoisier.com)

—Jessica Taylor