Deep Discounts on Wine Abound and Aren't Going Away

More than a year ago, The Luxury Life alerted readers to the remarkable wine discounts available through sites like winestilsoldout.com and cinderellawine.com.

Today's New York Times reports on the success of these and other wine bargain sites. The paper says that the flash wine market now comprises about $100 million per year, or about 25% of all wine sales.

Read more about how to get some great prices on very good wines in our original report and in the Times article.

Life's Little Luxuries: C'est Cheese!

National Grilled Cheese Month starts today.

With news of such staggering proportions, we're temped to shout, "Hold the panini presses!" But we will resist.

Au contraire, we take our melted cheese seriously, and so we reprint our blog post commemorating National Grilled Cheese Month of 2009:

We offer some fabulous grilled cheese recipes from Bobby Flay and others.

Here's Bobby's Grilled Brie and Goat Cheese with Bacon and Green Tomato.

Our favorite TV chef Tyler Florence serves up a great Grilled Cheese with Apple and Bacon.

Alton Brown demonstrates how to make his version in this short video.

From Bon Appetit magazine, here's a yummy Grilled Ham And Gouda Sandwich with Frisee and Caramelized Onions (shown here).

And just for fun you can't beat that childhood favorite, the Velveeta Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

The Artful Traveler: Egypt's Time Is Now

There may be no better time to visit Egypt than right now.

Popular attractions such as the Valley of the Kings in Thebes, the Great Pyramids in Giza, and the spectacular Egyptian Museum in Cairo would normally be inundated with thousands of tourists each day. Newspapers here and in the UK report that these and other sites are virtually deserted.

At the same time, some airlines and many hotels have reduced prices to lure back the 1.1 million tourists who left during the revolution.

England and other European nations have lifted travel advisories. Correspondents from the Guardian, The Independent and The Wall St. Journal all say that the country is safe despite the recent upheavals and that tourists are receiving a warm welcome.

Business is business, after all.

When we were in college, we used to get very cheap flights to Africa and the Middle East by booking with British travel agencies and tour operators. To get the best deals today, you should try the same approach. (Use your frequent flier miles to get to London for even greater savings.)

For example, The Independent reports that On the Go Tours has a nine-day cultural tour of the Nile valley for £649 per person. The price includes return flights from Heathrow to Cairo on 29 March, transfers, two nights sailing on the Nile on board a traditional Egyptian felucca (sailing boat), four nights' accommodation in four- and five-star hotels, two nights on a train, breakfast each day and some meals. A local tour guide, with a degree in Egyptology accompanies the trip (+1 (866) 377-6147; www.onthegotours.com).

Hurry and go soon, because travel experts think tourism will bounce back quickly (months, not years as in Yugoslavia, for example).

Read more about Egyptian travel at attractive prices in The Independent, the Guardian, The Wall St. Journal.

For a list of international travel companies offering tours to Egypt, click here.

The Annals of Luxury: China Poised to Be No. 1 Luxury Market

Rolls Royce will soon sell more cars in China than in any other country.

The PRC already is the car maker's second biggest market after the U.S. (Britain, the United Arab Emirates, and Japan are numbers three, four, and five.)

The Chinese appetite for luxury cars appears insatiable. Sales of BMWs and Mercedes doubled last year. No small wonder, thanks to the rapid rise of the wealthy class in China.

A military parade rolls past a Gucci boutique in Beijing. (Photo: gadgetdan/flickr.com)

Forbes reports that only the U.S. exceeds China in the number of dollar billionaires. There are 130 in the PRC today. Five years ago, there were just a handful.

It's not just the ultra-rich that are thriving. The merely wealthy are doing quite well, too. The past decade saw a 50% annual increase in the number of Chinese millionaires, from 24 in 2000 to 1363 in 2010 – and most of them under 40 years old.

Take a number! Patrons line up for Vuitton's Shanghai boutique

Expensive cars are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the super-charged Chinese luxury market.

Luxury goods companies are expanding rapidly in China to accommodate demand that will account for half of their forecasted global growth in the next 10 years, according to a study by CLSA, a leading Asian brokerage and investment group.

Before that happens, China will have become the world's largest market for luxury goods, surpassing the U.S., Europe, and Japan.

Louis Vuitton’s biggest customers are already Chinese buyers. The French firm operates 32 boutiques in mainland China. Greater China represents 28% of sales for Swatch, 22% for Richemont (owners of the Cartier and Montblanc labels), 18% for Gucci, 14% for Bulgari and 11% for Hermes.

The CLSA report says that "success, wealth and fame/social standing are highly regarded in Chinese culture and displaying this through watches, jewelry, apparel, cars and wine garner respect."

That's news? In some respects at least, it seems that the Chinese are no different than the rest of us.

Read more from the CLSA here.
See photos of Gong-Li and Lang Lang at the opening of Vuitton's Shanghai boutique here.

The Enlightened Traveler: This is London

The first in a series of reports over the next few weeks
on what's new and noteworthy in London.

Just when you thought that you had to drop everything and head straight for Dubai, Shanghai, or Berlin – or risk compromising your "I've been everywhere cool and you haven't" status – along comes no-nonsense London with a few surprises of its own.

Not to be outdone by upstarts, the British capitol is on the ascendant. Or should we say, London continues to rise, perennially reinventing itself in ways that underscore its rank as one of the planet's favored destinations.

The hottest table in town for some time to come is Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. Opened a fortnight ago, it is the latest conceit from the brilliant, experimental chef who brought modern British cooking to the forefront at his three-Michelin-starred restaurant, The Fat Duck.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal's dining room

This time around Blumenthal has dipped into Britain's culinary past for inspiration. He reportedly spent 18 months researching recipes that go as far back as the 1300s. Of course, he doesn't just recreate them for modern diners. What fun would that be? He has reworked them into a menu of "perplexing unfamiliarity," one that is a "startlingly original read," according to one newspaper critic.

Meat fruit

Hmmm?

His signature Meat Fruit (c. 1500) consists of chicken livers whipped into a mousse, formed into the shape of an orange, and covered with mandarin jelly. There's also the quaintly named Rice and Flesh (c.1390) which rests braised calf tail on a bed of saffron rice, and Ragoo of Pigs Ears (c.1750) with anchovies, onions and parsley.

And those are just the starters!

The main courses sound tame by comparison. Sirloin of Black Angus (c.1830) comes with mushroom ketchup, red wine juice and triple cooked chips. There's also a Spiced Pigeon (c.1780) with ale and artichokes, Cod in Cider (c. 1940), and Beef Royal (c.1720). This last is a short rib of angus cooked for 72 hours sous vide, the vacuum sealed water submersion method Blumenthal pioneered. (Intensifies the flavors but diminishes the texture, according to those who know a thing or two about food.)

At least some of London's food critics have worked themselves into an unabashed frenzy of adulation.

"If there has been a more flawless and exhilarating restaurant opening in the past decade, I missed it," gushed Matthew Norman in The Telegraph.

Others are offering a more restrained view. The Daily Mail labeled Blumenthal’s "interpretation" of traditional British food "a brilliant and original concept," then opined, "Yet eating at his new restaurant remains an interesting experience, rather than a delicious one."

Time Out's Guy Dimond was only moderately impressed. The restaurant is just "another smart, five-star-hotel restaurant, not the culinary equivalent of the Second Coming." Apparently he didn't ask the patrons who have to wait until June to get in or the guy who already has auctioned off his booking on eBay.

You'll find Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge. The airy dining room overlooks Hyde Park. Service is professional and friendly, not stuffy.

Finally, it's not cheap. Although by London standards it's not exactly exorbitant either. Check how your stocks are doing to see where you stand on the issue. Or go for the set lunch at a reasonable £28 – if you can get a reservation.

Want to know more? Here are a few recent reviews and articles from British publications: The Telegraph, The Independent, The Daily Mail.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is at 66 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7LA, tel. +44 (0)20 7201 3833, www.dinnerbyheston.com.

Click here to read our other articles on London.

Watch This Space!

Where have
we been?

Dear Faithful Reader,

You have noticed no doubt that we haven't posted much over the last few months. That is because we have been busy – very, very busy all Fall, in fact – finding remarkable gifts for our beloved customers.

The good news is that we've got lots of nifty new luxury products to tell you about. In addition, we're planning stories on a variety of compelling topics – hot new restaurants and shops in Paris, luxury trends in China, the array of unique, world-class museums planned for Abu Dhabi, Heston Blumenthal's celebrated new London eatery, and the $625 2,438-page book on the science and technology of cooking that is the talk of the culinary world.

Watch this space over the next few weeks for all this and a good deal more. Please come back frequently for our latest reportage.

We think that you will be delighted.

Things Not Available In The U.S.: Moet & Chandon's Golden Jeroboam

We like to think of the U.S. as the land of plenty, but sometimes it's plenty of nothing.

At least that's the case as far as Moet & Chandon is concerned.

The French champagne house recently released their Golden Jeroboam, guaranteed to impress not merely because it stands a stunning 19 1/2 inches tall and packs three liters of Moet's finest sparkling wine, but also because the bottle is clad in gold leaf.*

(Some journalists have referred to this as "real" gold leaf. Honestly, is there any other kind?)

Moet has produced just 1743 bottles to celebrate the year of its founding.

And did we mention that if you are lucky enough to snag one of these beauties, it will set you back about $1,050?

It appears that Moet isn't making this particular treasure available in the U.S. or U.K. One place you can get it online is from the Parisian merchant-of-the-moment Collette.

Bonne chance et bonne année!

*You say jeroboam, we say double magnum. We always thought that a jeroboam contained 4 1/2 liters, or six regular bottles, of champagne, not three liters, or four bottles, as Moet avers. Do they know something we don't?

Carnations Aren't Just For Proms Anymore

Last year, we lived through bold bangles, harem pants, Barack Obama, social media, smartphones, Glee, and sibling names starting with the same letter (think Khloe, Kourtney and Kim Kardashian).

Not always scorned, carnations were painted by Van Gogh (above), da Vinci, and other masters

This year's trends: food trucks, the Tea Party, chocolate covered bacon, Irish baby names (Connor, Killian, Braden), and – ready for this? – carnations.

For years synonymous with cheap, prom night boutonnieres, the carnation was so reviled that upmarket florists hewed to the mantra, "No mums, no carns!" or risk upsetting their chic clientele.

That's about to change. The lowly carnation is making a comeback, writes Lettie Teague in the Wall St. Journal. She reports that Oscar de la Renta, Martha Stewart and Sarah Jessica Parker are among celebrities who have been seen sporting the flower recently.

Society stylist and event designer Bronson Van Wyck has taken a shine to them, too. During the just concluded Fashion Week, he assembled 30,000 carnations into fat topiary balls hung from the ceiling on fishing lines.

Teague says that today's carnations "look nothing like the flowers found at the corner store. They're much larger and showier, more vibrantly colored."

They come in a wide range of hues—yellow, red, pink, white and even green (natural, not dyed) and are grown primarily in Colombia. The main source for carnations used to be luxe Cap d'Antibes, attesting to the flowers once exclusive lineage.

Read the complete article here.

Books We Like to Give and Get: The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer

It's a shame that the American lyricist Johnny Mercer is less well known today than Irving Berlin, Ira Gershwin, and many of the songwriters who were his Tin Pan Alley contemporaries.

Johnny Mercer, the composer and Capitol recording star

If he is remembered at all, it's usually for a group of hit songs he composed, later in his career, with Henry Mancini for films like Breakfast at Tiffany's ("Moon River"), Days of Wine and Roses, and Charade.

It was a different story during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s when Mercer was as popular as Gershwin, Berlin, Oscar Hammerstein, Cole Porter and the other greats who shaped American popular music in the first half of the 20th Century.

He wrote dozens of standards – "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)", "Come Rain or Come Shine," "Blues in the Night," "This Time the Dream's on Me," "I'm Old Fashioned," "Tangerine," "That Old Black Magic," "Too Marvelous for Words," "Fools Rush In."

As if those weren't enough to assure his place in the Pantheon of great songwriters, Mercer gave us the sultry jazz standards "Skylark," "Satin Doll," and "Midnight Sun" in which he rhymed ruby chalice with alabaster palace and aurora borealis

He could also produce clever rhymes that were catchy, disdainfully amusing, and topical at the same time. In his show business anthem "Hooray for Hollywood," from 1937's Hollywood Hotel, Mercer observed:

Hooray for Hollywood!
Where you're terrific if you're even good.

Forty years later the pianist and cabaret singer Blossom Dearie swung these lilting lyrics:

I dig Modigliani,
Jolson doing "Swanee,"
Several maharanees are my intimates, too.
I played with Mantovani,
And that's a lot of strings to get through.
But anyone can see
My new celebrity is you!

Mercer's novelty numbers, some with his own music, have endured, as well, even if we've forgotten who wrote them. "Jeepers Creepers (Where'd You Get Those Peepers?)", "I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)" "Goody, Goody," and "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive (E-lim-mi-nate the negative)" are as familiar to us today as they were to previous generations.

Johnny Mercer made other significant contributions to American popular music.

In 1942 he founded and for many years was the driving force behind Capitol Records, home to Paul Whiteman, Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, Stan Kenton and, later, The Kingston Trio, Dean Martin, and The Beatles. As a singer, he was one of the label's first and biggest recording stars. In the 1940s, sales of Mercer discs were on par with those of Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby.

Mercer the performer and music industry giant are forgotten, and today we celebrate him for the marvelous words he wrote.

They've all been collected and annotated in The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer, by Robert Kimball, editor of earlier volumes on the works of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Ira Gershwin, Frank Loesser, and Lorenz Hart.

This large-format book contains every lyric Mercer wrote, more than 1500 in all. It includes his first song, "Out of Breath (and Scared to Death of You)" along with the complete scores for L'il Abner, St. Louis Woman, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Mercer's unsuccessful musicals are here, too: Saratoga, Top Banana, the infamous Bert Lahr flop Foxy.

We love leafing through this book, revisiting beloved standards and discovering unknown gems. Anyone who is a fan of the Great American Songbook will find hours of enjoyment within its pages, too.

The Annals of Luxury: It's Official! The Rich Are Just Like You And Me.

Or are they?

Last week The New York Times reported that the wealthy are "tightening their belts."

Until recently, affluent consumers had continued to spend, offering one of the few rays of hope for retailers suffering through these recessionary times.

Next stop, Rodeo Drive!

Now their confidence appears to have ebbed. At least that is the interpretation given the latest retail sales reports by some economic analysts, said The Times.

By affluent consumers, we mean top 5 percent in income earners — those households earning $210,000 or more. They account for about one-third of consumer outlays, including spending on goods and services, interest payments on consumer debt and cash gifts, according to an analysis of Federal Reserve data by Moody’s Analytics.

Any cutback in purchasing by this elite group produces a disproportionate reduction in overall retail sales. Ouch!

The Times cites the usual reasons for the downturn in spending – swings in dividend payments, investment losses, low interest rates on bank savings accounts, uncertainty about the future, and (here's a new one) fear of looking prosperous.

It turns out that some executives and business owners who have laid off employees don't want to buy new luxury cars because they're afraid of how that will look to their remaining workers.

If things get worse, will they leave their Porsches and Lexuses at home and take the bus to the office?

Click here to read the full New York Times article.

The Enlightened Traveler: London's Charlotte St.

Even if you're a frequent visitor to London, you might not know Charlotte St.

Tucked away a few blocks north of Oxford St. and west of bustling Tottenham Court Rd., it's a quiet byway noteworthy for its many restaurants. These aren't London's finest eateries, though many of them are very good.

That makes Charlotte St. your preferred destination when you don't know where you want have dinner. You can work up an appetite as you stroll the area, inspecting your many options.

No phony Sicilian decor at Mennula, just simple, up-to-the-minute elegance

One that currently is attracting attention is the recently opened Mennula at No. 10. Sicilian-born chef-owner Santino Busciglio has worked at some of the city's better Italian restaurants, Rosmarino, Zafferano and Alloro.

We haven't been there yet, but we have been impressed by the reviews.

Time Out notes that Busciglio's "style of cooking is much more contemporary and refined than Sicilian home cooking, a fact underlined by this Fitzrovia site also being self-consciously smarter than London's other Sicilian restaurants."

The Independent writes: "There's nothing particularly flashy about Mennula; the lion's share of the work has gone into getting the food right, rather than "the concept"... If you're after simple Sicilian food, lovingly prepared by a talented chef, this is the place to come."

We cannot wait to try it.

The British Museum, Bloomsbury, Oxford St. shopping, Wigmore Hall, and West End theaters are 5-15 mins. on foot from Charlotte St. Goodge St. is the nearest tube stop.

The arty, chic Charlotte Street Hotel is a show business favorite and a luxe place to stay if your budget allows. Even if you are not in residence, you can enjoy a drink in the hotel's stylish Oscar Bar before dinner at Mennula or another Fitzrovia restaurant.

And Another Thing: Everybody's a Legend Nowadays

The advertising campaign for Blackglama mink, with it's often imitated headline "What becomes a legend most?," is one of the most famous of all time.

It had a simple premise: iconic, legendary celebrities (Judy Garland, Bette Davis, and yes, Ray Charles) were shown wearing nothing more than an elegant, expensive black mink coat in striking photographs by the great Richard Avedon.

So successful was the campaign that it has continued off and on from its inception in 1968 to the present century. If it's not broken, don't try to fix it.

For the most part, the subjects of the Blackglama ads were, indeed, legendary, as in meaning someone or something that is extremely famous.

Nowadays, PR people commonly invoke the L Word to describe anyone and anything even the slightest bit acclaimed. Take PR Newswire, the main channel for distributing news releases – we said news releases, not news – to the world's media.

If you look at their website, you quickly come to the cheerless conclusion that pretty much anyone with a publicist is considered to be a legend of some sort. This includes everyone from athletes who are in the twilight of mediocre careers to software developers about whom surely no legends ever have been or will be written.

Legendary should be used only to refer to (1) someone or something that has been celebrated or described in a legend (Paul Bunyan or King Arthur's Court, for example) or (2) someone who is extremely famous.

Here's a sampling of L Word references in more than 500 press releases on PR Newswire over the last 60 days. Which ones fit our description?

• legendary journalist Dan Rather
• legendary Pittsburgh Steeler Franco Harris
• legendary music photographer Rob Shanahan
• legendary songwriter Carole King
• legendary West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd
• legendary music mogul Kevin Liles
• legendary concert promoter Leonard Rowe
• legendary software developer Kent Beck
• the world's most legendary queen, Cleopatra
• legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman
• the legendary Waikiki Beach

Cleopatra: legend; Kevin Liles: just a record producer

By our count, the only bona fide legend here is Cleopatra. While Dan Rather, Robert Byrd, and Carole King are well known in certain circles (and even may be nice guys, to boot), it would be a stretch to call them extremely famous. Waikiki Beach is a nice place to sip a pina colada, but please show us the legends that have been written about it.

As for Kent Beck, Leonard Rowe, and Kevin Liles, all we can say is, "Huh?"

PR professionals take note: the L Word should be used sparingly, if at all.

Not the Same Old, Same Old: Just in Time for Summer, Fun, Fashionable Sterling Silver Ballpark Cuff Links

Summer is heating up with major sporting events on every continent.

We've spent a good part of the week watching the World Cup and Wimbledon. (We're still marveling over that unbelievable Isner-Mahut marathon fifth set!)

Brooklyn's Ebbets Field, home of the Dodgers, then – and now!

With another week of top-notch tennis and two of soccer ahead, we'll be up most nights into the wee hours cheering on our favorite players and teams.

But long after the dust has settled at the All England Tennis Club and the last of South Africa's vuvuzelas are silenced, we'll still have four months of baseball to look forward to.

This bring us to our newest gift suggestion for clients and friends who (1) are mad about sports and (2) get properly dressed for work at least a few days a week.

What we're talking about here are handsome sterling silver cuff links inset with wood salvaged from the stadium seats of such historic ballparks as Yankee Stadium, Ebbets Field, The Polo Grounds, Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, Dodger Stadium, and seven others.

Ballpark Cuff Links, from top, Wrigley Field, Chicago;
Yankee Stadium, New York; Busch Stadium, St. Louis

Do not laugh! Apart from serving a utilitarian purpose for the dapper man or chic woman who knows that French cuffs are once again in vogue*, our ballpark cuff links are also collectible.

At the very least, wearing them is going to lead to some interesting conversations and maybe even new business or romantic relationships.

Each pair is unique: the painted surfaces of these unusual cuff links may be uneven or multicolored due to multiple layers of paint.

The cuff links are hallmarked with the name of the ballpark on the back and come with a certificate of authenticity. They are nicely gift boxed, too.

The price ranges from $150 - $270 per pair, depending on the scarcity of wood. To borrow from Will Rogers, they're not making wooden seats anymore. And some of these stadiums were torn down a long time ago. The ones still standing have had low-maintenance-but-still-tacky plastic seats for a decade or more.

Our ballpark cuff make memorable gifts for the man or woman has everything, but most assuredly not these! We think you should give them to all of your important clients, every cast member of your TV show or movie, and all of the groomsmen in your summer wedding.

Don't forget your friends who are coming over to watch the All-Star Game on July 13. Imagine how surprised and delighted they'll be.

We sell these in multiples of five or more, any assortment of teams you would like. Please phone us at (310) 581-6710 to place your order.

If you want just one pair, or would like to see the complete list of teams, click here.

*Not that they really ever went out of style. They're timeless, like Fred Astaire or a hot fudge sundae.

The Annals of Luxury: The Gold Rush of 2009-10

Unlike most products we purchase, the price of a hot new bag or piece of jewelry has very little to do with the cost of production, the cost of raw materials, or even supply and demand.

The price of a luxury item is determined by its perceived value or, in simple terms, what the buyer is willing to pay for it. That is why a Vuitton or Hermes bag can fetch 13 times more than manufacturing costs.

Not always worth its weight!

If the folks who produce and distribute your groceries could achieve those margins, you'd need to mortgage your house just to eat.

The price of commodities like sugar and oil is usually directly related to issues of supply, demand, and production. The costs of gas does down when there is too much oil being produced or when consumers buy less of it.

Not so with gold. In recent months, the supply of gold has remained constant and demand for the precious stuff has fallen by 25%, according to a recent story in the Wall St. Journal.

Still, the price of gold continues to rise to record highs, gaining an average of 16% for each of the past ten years.

Sounds like a good investment, doesn't it – particularly in these uncertain economic times?

Wait! The price of gold is determined not by market forces but by large investors who have no use for it. They buy more if they think the price will go higher, thus pushing the prices up.

This isn't a sure thing: there is a history of gold's price falling.

According to Sherali Anand, the author of the Journal's report, "During times of prosperity and growth in the world, gold prices fell. Between January 1980 and January 1990, gold lost 28% of its value. Over the subsequent 10 years through January 2000, gold fell an additional 27%

"Now, after its sharp increase over the past decade, even gold bulls are skeptical about its potential as a high-return investment."

In other words, nothing goes up forever. That certainly includes gold, the price of which, as we have learned, is subject to the whims of fickle investors, global political events, and who knows what else.

Not comforting if you are looking for a safe place to put your money nowadays.

Mr. Anand concludes, "Don't keep more than 5% of your portfolio in gold."

Summertime, Summertime, Sum-, Sum-, Summertime!

We're already in fun-in-the-sun mode, even though summer doesn't start officially for another month.

Take a look at these gifts, selected to make a day at the beach or in the backyard that much more sensational.



These are great choices for your cast or crew for start or end of production or for valued clients and important business associates for any occasion.

When you see what you like, call us at (310) 581-6710 and we'll get it for you. Don't see what you're looking for? Call us, we'll show you more gift suggestions.