CHINA IS PRODUCING EXPENSIVE WINES

Moet Hennessey is bringing the first high-end wine made in China to US shelves with a price tag of $300 per bottle. Its Ao Yun red wine, meaning "above the clouds," is made in a remote part of the Himalayan plateau, a high-altitude region with steady weather.

Most Expensive wine made in China

The winery is in Yunnan Province, the most southerly in China, hard against the borders of Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar.

Made of Cabernet-Sauvignon grapes, possibly Cabernet-Franc, vines were planted by Chinese government and nobody is 100% sure.

A new stunning project from M-H worths following...

Source: Forbes

List of the Most Expensive Cognacs

The most expensive products do not make necessarily the best products but more expensive products may be better than standard products as a rule of thumb. The cognac is often the most expensive spirits available in a retail store or the menu of a premium restaurant.

Several cognacs are often referred to be the most expensive cognacs including:

1) FOR SALE:

a) Henri IV Dudognon Heritage: about 2 million USD. 100 years old cognac with a regal packaging. The bottle is dipped in 24k gold and sterling platinum and adorned with 6,500 brilliant cut diamonds. Offered for sale in Dubai.

Cognac Dudognon Henry IV most Expensive

b) Another example of most often-quoted expensive cognac is Hennessy Cognac Beauté du Siècle as translated 'beauty of the century'. It comes in a small mirrored treasure chest designed by a team of artists including Jean-Michel Othoniel which is very visually appealing - with no less than a Baccarat crystal bottle. Only 100 of these cognacs were made to symbolize each year making a century. The cognac is hand-delivered to buyers by members of the Hennessy board.  $235,000 per bottle.

Hennessy Cognac Beaute du Siecle Most Expensive Cognac

B. FOR AUCTION:

According to the Guiness World Records, the most expensive cognac was sold at an auction in China last Sept. 24th 2011. This was a 1858 bottle of Pre-Phylloxera Cognac called Cuvee Leonie  by Cognac Croizet auctioned for 160,000USD at The Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai.

Cognac Croizet Leonie Most Expensive Cognac

C. Broken Glass

Last June 22nd 2012, the record for the most expensive cognac bottle broken by mistake was established. A regular customer at London's Playboy Club  managed to destroy a estimated 78,000 USD bottle of historic cognac Clos de Griffier Vieux dating back from 1788.

The customer had ordered two glasses for 16,000 USD and then asked to look at the bottle. At this price how can one refuse to show the bottle. Unfortunately, while looking at the bottle he dropped it on the floor.  No one was hurt but it is a shame.

Cognac Clos du Greffier Most Expensive Cognac

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com (23 July 2012)

guinnessworldsrecords.com

http://neveryetmelted.com/categories/beaute-du-siecle

VVIPS are Expecting Gold Medal Services at the London 2012 Olympic Games

VVIPs have all arrived in London this summer to experience the London 2012 Olympic Games. These rich jet setters are expecting nothing less than gold medal services. Royalties, actors, singers, politicians, business people, celebrity sportsmen, and lookalikes ... Loft rentals, penthouses, mega yachts, helicopters, limousines, shoppings, river diners, kids and dogs sitters, quick trips in South of France and extravagant night-lifes will have to be staged.

Everything gets upgraded including cocktails. Nightclub Chinawhite has mixed up London’s most expensive cocktail for its Olympic after-party. My favorite cocktail: a short version of the French 75 - champagne and cognac.

Chinawhite Nightclub London Olympic Cocktail 2012 Champagne and Cognac

Made with Champagne Luxor 24-carat gold-leaf and Hennessy Paradis cognac. And as for the 'cherry on top' it  has a handmade set of 18-carat gold rings at the bottom of each glass. Circonstantially priced at £2,012 (3150 USD). Not so expensive considering the world most expensive coktail is according to the Guiness Book of Records 7000USD available at the Skyview Bar of one of the highest hotel built on earth (4th), 'the Burj Al Arab' Hotel in Dubai.

If you are an olympians it is free, so you have 3 more days!

Sources: NBC news and huffington Post and eater.com

What's in Common between a Stradivarius and a Cognac?

Old and Modern Violin

Old violins are always better than new ones. Expensive violins are better than cheap ones. One could say that this is the same for cognac!

Professor Claudia Fritz of the University of Paris VI and Joseph Curtin, a violin-maker have discovered that this opinion is biased. Twenty one professinal violinists were given to compare blindfolded a Stradivarius and a new quality violin. In this comparison, the Stradivarius were estimated at about 3 millions USD each versus the modern violin were about 30 thousand dollars each. Obviously, they could not compare the Stradivarius against cheap violins but against substantial violins made using modern technology.

One simple question was enough to say a lot: "given the chance, which violin would you want to take home?". The results are quite revealing since the majority of players clearly indicated the modern violins as being better. This study suggests that it is hard for people to be objective when estimating subjective measures as emotional as the feeling given by playing an instrument. This emotion is even more enhanced when one knows the value given to the instrument.

I wonder if this study would be true for cognacs as one may question the alleged superiority of the old cognacs over younger cognacs, and of the superiority of expensive cognacs over affordable cognacs. Now that we have 3D printing technology could it be that the Stradivarius status is jeopardized? Could we ever think of a liquid-D printing technology where we would be able to replicate on demand our favorite cognacs.

I am just day dreaming!

Please Sir! Print me a cognac...

http://brain4biz.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/brand-and-item-excellence-just-about-marketing-and-social-status/

http://www.economist.com/node/18114327

Photo: Source: Didacool, Wikipedia