G.Lorenzi, the only still family-owned shop on Milan’s famous Via Montenapoleone, is perhaps the most civilised retail space in Europe.

This Lorenzi special edition set, contained in a “Chancellor of the Exchequer budget” red calf leather case, comprises a chrome plate cast steel tong with hand-turned Makassar ebony handles polished with bees wax and a chrome plate brass stopper turned from a solid bar with a Makassar ebony top.

A ball-bearing connection between the stopper rings makes for a satisfyingly smooth action. Reputed to keep champagne unimpeachably fizzy.

Baptiste Mathieu has designed this concept called Veuve Clicquot Night Clubber at the occasion of the talent show “Les espoirs de la creation 2008″

It consists of a luminous glass and a bottle that allows every consumer to experience the festive opening of its bottle. The champagne bottle features double cap for blocking the stopper.

The leather trim imparts the luxury feel and polished aluminium treatment is also given to accentuate the design.

The much venerated champagne house Armand de Brignac has two new champagnes to add to its flagship cuvée, the Brut Gold.

Currently maturing in the cellars, the first is a pink champagne, the Armand de Brignac Rosé, which comes in a pink-gold bottle with matching adornments.

The second is the Armand de Brignac Blanc de Blancs, which is pressed from a selection of white Chardonnay, contained in an antique silver bottle with matching silver labels.

Krug, the French champagne house, has come up with a new way to attract luxury consumers by offering the world’s most expensive balloon rides, available in locations all over the world ; in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Tuscany, France – and Gloucestershire.

Besides the obvious trip up in a luxury balloon (gleaming hardware, basket lined with premium white leather) you also get gourmet dining complete with champagne and butler service while you’re in the air for a price tag of €50,000 for a group of up to 8 people.

The 18-story Pixel Tower by James Law Cybertecture, which is planned for Dubai’s Waterfront, is inspired by the moving bubbles in a champagne glass with a design that targets the young and trendy.

The geometry of the openings minimizes in the southern direction of the sun to minimize heat gain, and maximizes in the northern direction of the sun to maximize views to the sea.

Due for completion in 2010, the building forms part of the agency’s ‘Cybertecture’ series, a range of high-tech solutions that thinks of structures as intelligent, customizable spaces. No matter where they are in the world, residents are always able to control and view their apartment, as well as the appliances within it, using mobile phones and PDAs. Fiber optic projections and animatronics presentations will also be incorporated.

The world’s most expensive champagne, popping the records at 4,166 euros (6,485 dollars) for a personalised bottle of bubbly, goes on sale Thursday targeting a “super-rich” global elite.

The limited edition 12-bottle box sets of Perrier-Jouet champagne will be priced at 50,000 euros, according to French drink firm Pernod-Ricard.

Sales will be limited to a “community of super-rich” consumers in the United States, Britain, Japan, China, Russia, Switzerland and France.

“We are going to sell these box-sets to 100 people around the world who will have a chance to customise their own champagne, the ultimate luxury,” said Perrier Olivier Cavil, head of communications at Perrier-Jouet.

“Each buyer will come to Epernay (in eastern France) for a one-on-one meeting with our cellar master Herve Deschamps, and will personally add a ‘liqueur’ to personalise the bottles,” he said.

A combination of sugar and wines from different years, the liqueur will put the finishing touch on bottles of Perrier-Jouet’s 2000 Belle Epoque champagne.

Buyers will also be offered a storage nest in Perrier-Jouet’s cellars, to hold the bottles for another eight months.

The previous price record was held by a limited edition of Dom Perignon champagne, which went on sale in 2005 for 12,000 euros per three-litre bottle.

Pernod Ricard, which owns the champagne brands Mumm and Perrier-Jouet, is the fourth player in a booming global market.

Champagne producers exported 150 million bottles last year, a 7.3-percent jump from 2006, in addition to 188 million guzzled in France, according to industry figures.