After an absence of seven years, Christie’s wine department will be back in Asia for an auction on 29 Nov 2008 at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre and it will open Christie’s Hong Kong Fall 2008 Sale Season.

Christie’s International Wine Department will conduct a focused sale of fine wine including select offerings from the cellars of first growth, Château Latour.

Christie’s Hong Kong sales totaled HK $2.4 billion in Spring 2008, the highest total ever achieved for any auction season in Asia.

The evening sale will feature around 250 selected lots, with 150 lots from Château Latour. One of the top prizes is a 1900 magnum estimated at $18,000 - $24,000. The Latour selection in its entirety is expected to realize in excess of HK $10 million.

Alongside the unique offering from Château Latour will be a further range of fine and rare wines, all sourced from impeccable European cellars, including rare Pétrus and other First Growth Bordeaux, a selection of exceptional Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, vintage Champagne and venerable Vintage Port and Old Cognacs.

A bottle of 115-year-old champagne has been found in a sideboard at a Scottish castle, BBC reported.

Chris James, the owner of Torosay Castle and Gardens, found the bottle of the distinctly yellow-labelled 1893 Veuve Cliquot champagne in a solid wooden dining room side board, which is a family heirloom. The “secret” compartment did not have a key, so Mr James employed a locksmith in an attempt to bring a family mystery to a conclusion.

On opening the door, he found a bottle of brandy, a port decanter and a bottle of claret and the single bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne. The drinks are believed to have been locked up since at least 1897.

The bottle, complete with label, was in mint condition having been kept in the dark throughout.

James contacted Veuve Cliquot in France to enquire whether the bottle was of interest. Veuve Cliquot had no idea when they first used their trademark yellow labels, but the bottle found at the castle was the oldest by a long margin.

The priceless bottle is now on display the Veuve Cliquot visitor centre at Reims in France.
Fabienne Huttaux, head of communications there, said: “The bottle is literally priceless. It is a one-off and therefore unique. We would never consider selling it as it is far too important to us.”

Asked whether the champagne was still drinkable (It probably tastes horrible ^_^), Peter McKay which handles public relations for Torosay castle, said: “I don’t think that question will ever be answered. It is so valuable to Veuve Clicquot in France that they are going to keep it exactly as it is.”

Though, if I were Mr James I would ask for unlimited free champagne !

Máximo Extra Añejo is an ultra-premium rum from Havana Club, one of Cuba’s premier rum makers. The announcement of Máximo Extra Añejo a new ‘ultra-premium extra-aged rum’ came in November 2006, from Pernod Ricard.

This Rum is a complex blend of many years of white, golden and darker rums, repeatedly blended with fresh sugarcane distillate and then further aged. The final act of blending, the ‘toque’ produces the finished product.

Handcrafted carefully under the strict eyes of Cuban traditions, each bottle is a hand-blown crystal decanter - the shape of which is inspired by Havana architecture - and comes in a lined wooden case with a certificate of authenticity, individually numbered by Master Glassmaker, Paul Miller. Finally, Havana Club’s chief Maestro Ronero, Don José Navarro certifies the process is complete with a boogaloo.

1,000 bottles are available worldwide at a mere $2,000 a piece and you will be able to find some at Harvey Nichols and Harrods.

Navarro declared “There will never be a rum that better expresses the Cuban rum culture and its rich tradition than Havan Club Máximo Extra Anejo”. So please, don’t mix it with coke unless you want your “world’s most expensive Rum coke” to be featured on Luxuo!

In addition, a specific website, has been dedicated to Havana Club Máximo Extra Añejo. A secret part of the website is exclusively opened to Máximo buyers, the members of the Sociedad de Máximo, who share the same passion for excellence in Cuban Rum.

For the yacht owner who want all the luxuries onboard, you can now add the gimballed champagne holder to your accessories, so as not to spill a drop of Champagne anymore!

The extraordinary hand-manufactured piece “was designed for Dutch company Bottler BV by a famous Dutch interior yacht designer, who was inspired by Gerolamo Cardano, the Italian physician, philosopher and mathematician. In 1537 he developed his ‘cardanic suspension’ (gimbals), in order to hold the compass stably against the ships movements.” It is designed with three concentric rings hold the bottle perpendicularly no matter the motion of the boat.

This extraordinary tribute to hedonism is made with watch-making precision and available in three different metals (brass, nickel and gold-plated) to match the interior of any yacht

Prices start from €5.500 (Bottler “J-Class limited edition” is priced €10.000)

For additional details or more information regarding Bottler, please contact Nathalie Beck, info@bottler.nl

A special limited edition collection of the new Stella Artois Nobilis beer (which looks a bit like bottles of Champagne on the picture above) recently sold for $15,000CDN ($14,851 ) making it the world’s most expensive six-pack.

Purchaser AOL Canada planned to share the expensive beer with their employees over the holidays while the proceeds will benefit WildAid, an international non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating the illegal wildlife trade.

The WildAid Stella Artois Nobilis collection is comprised of six magnums autographed by film celebrities who generously committed their signatures for the cause. Angelina Jolie, Kate Hudson, Charlize Theron and Woody Harrelson, Bo Derek, Ryan Gosling and Samuel L. Jackson
are among those included in the collection.

Launched in November 2007, Stella Artois Nobilis is a delicate, sparkling beer designed to help mark spontaneous celebrations and it is brewed by InBev in Leuven,Belgium. Stella Artois was first brewed in 1926 as a Christmas brew and and InBev now produces over 1 billion liters of Stella Artois annually.

You can order a Ménage a Trois served nightly at Tryst at the 5 Diamond Award-winning Wynn Hotel. This sexy cocktail is creates a perfect threesome using Cristal Rosé, Hennessy Ellipse and Grand Marnier Cent-cinquantenaire.

23-karat gold flakes and liquid gold syrup decorate this decadent cocktail. For $3,000 you can sip this drink through a golden straw studded with a 9-point diamond, yours to keep.