Spring Fashion

The Morgan Motor Co. will ensure the exclusivity of its new aeroMax, essentially a fixed-head version of the aero 8, by building only 100 examples. The last time the family-run, boutique british automaker offered a hardtop model, more than 40 years ago, a cool reception rendered the car a rarity. In 1963, then–company chief peter […]

If an auto scribe chronicles the experience of driving the new Lamborghini Reventón at triple-digit speeds, don’t believe him. Contributing writer Ezra Dyer took the nearly $1.5 million supercar for a spin near the Lamborghini headquarters in Sant’Agata, Italy, and writes about that jaunt in “Bull Flight” (page 82). Dyer reports that the company has […]

Dennis Conner, the four-time America’s Cup winner, did not laugh at my joke. Conner was in Newport, R.I., about five years ago, sailing what was essentially a scaled-down version of an America’s Cup yacht around the harbor. His crew for the day was a group of clients from the investment firm that was sponsoring his […]

It might look like a pig, but this bronze, 2,500-year-old Chinese wine vessel actually takes the form of a tapir, an animal related to horses and hippos. “Tapirs were extinct in China then, but they were possibly imported from other parts of Asia,” says James Hennessy of Little-ton and Hennessy (+44.20.7930.0888, http://www.littletonandhennessy.com), the London gallery […]

If all goes as planned, the Fisker Karma (www.fiskerautomotive.com) will cover 100 miles on a gallon of gas or diesel fuel and 620 miles on a single tank, partly by traveling the first 50 miles on power generated by lithium batteries. The plug-in, hybrid premium sport sedan was designed by Henrik Fisker, who conceived the […]

Like its Wally Yachts predecessors, the new WallyPower 70 Lau Lau (www.wally.com) features vast expanses of glass and the angular lines of a stealth bomber. As the founder of the Monaco-based boatbuilder explains, a cause-and-effect relationship exists between these two design hallmarks of Wally’s. “We use straight lines in our boats for good reason,” says […]

Man’s Room, the new accessories collection from 23-year-old Serbian designer Damjan Popovac (www.damjanpopovac.com), is as masculine as its name suggests. Take his Hand, a $7,470 back scratcher made of wood and 18-karat gold. Popovac says he made it “bony and skeletal, so it won’t appeal to women.” His $11,470 ashtray, crafted from the same materials, […]

You soon will be able to enjoy a wine-country experience without ever leaving San Francisco. At the new Press Club (www.pressclubsf.com), which will open this April, representatives from at least six small-production Northern California wineries—Chateau Montelena, Hanna Winery, Miner Family Vineyards, Mount Eden Vineyards, Pahlmeyer, and Saintsbury—will introduce members to their vintages. The club will […]

The MV 75 World Champion is the first in a series of MV Agusta–themed timepieces from Swiss watchmaker JeanRichard (www.jeanrichard.com). The collection, which celebrates the Italian motorcycle maker’s victories in 75 international races (through last spring), is equipped with JeanRichard’s in-house automatic movement, the JR1000. Its black carbon dial is intended to recall those on […]

The lightweight diaphragm within a MartinLogan speaker produces a spacious sound while permitting a slim appearance. The company’s latest model, the 52-inch-tall and characteristically thin MartinLogan Purity (www.martinlogan.com), does not require a stack of audio components because each speaker has a built-in 200-watt digital amplifier. Thus equipped, the speakers, which are priced at about $3,000 […]

Since négociant Camille Giroud established his eponymous label in 1865, the firm’s reputation has rested on red Burgundies from vineyards in the Côte de Beaune and the Côte de Nuits, including premier cru locales, such as Gevrey-Chambertin and Pommard, as well as grand cru sites, such as Clos de Vougeot. Only recently, under the stewardship […]

The two courses at the Pelican Hill Golf Club (www.pelicanhill.com) in Newport Coast, Calif., reopened in November after a two-year renovation by original designer Tom Fazio. Aside from their broader ocean vistas and 25 new bunkers, the courses resemble their previous iterations. But the changes at Pelican Hill extend beyond its fairways: By this fall, […]

Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier, founders of the renowned Arrows restaurant in southern Maine, have opened Summer Winter (www.summerwinterrestaurant.com) in the Boston suburb of Burlington, Mass. Like Arrows, Summer Winter has an on-site garden that supplies a number of the restaurant’s ingredients. The 5,000-square-foot establishment also features a bar, a raw bar, an open kitchen, […]

Dominican puros—cigars made entirely from Dominican tobacco—are rare, but their ranks include such outstanding smokes as the Fuente Fuente Opus X and the Davidoff Puro Dominicana. To this elite group, Arganese Cigars has begun contributing the Arganese Uno, a 6 x 60 behemoth composed of perfectly aged tobaccos that together produce an extraordinarily rich taste. […]

Max Büsser was hesitant to launch a watch brand, because he lacked a certain prerequisite. “I initially thought I could never have my own brand because I am not a watchmaker,” says Büsser, the 40-year-old former managing director of Harry Winston Rare Timepieces. “Until Richard Mille, no one had created a brand without a watchmaker […]

Ferrari’s racetrack-ready F430 Scuderia is all raw welds and unpainted aluminum. Naked carbon fiber stretches from the center tunnel to the doorsills; the floors are bare metal; and frills are fewer than a farm truck’s. This is a vehicle for those who work seriously at motoring more quickly and smoothly. To serve such wants, Ferrari […]

As the jet soars over the California coastline, Dave Ryan grins. Ryan, a 10-year veteran of Learjet, is piloting the company’s first production 60 XR, fresh from the factory. Bombardier Aerospace, the Canadian owner of Learjet since 1990, produces two other Learjets: the 40 XR light jet and the 45 XR, the only superlight jet […]

Like a Giant Oyster, the personal submersible’s transparent, spherical cabin closes, and William Kohnen—one of the craft’s inventors—and I slip slowly beneath the surface of the water. Two scuba divers follow us, taking pictures of the descent. As we approach the ocean floor, a sand dab skitters across it, the two eyes on the side […]

Colum Egan, master distiller for Bushmills Irish Whiskey, remembers the instant he became inextricably linked to his employer’s past. “My key moment was when I tasted an 1882 Bushmills bought at auction,” explains Egan while leading a tour of the company’s centuries-old distillery in Bushmills, Northern Ireland. “We drew the sample with a syringe. You […]

Maduro tobaccos are considered too thick and too costly to use for anything but wrapper leaf. Thus a maduro (the Spanish word for “mature” or “ripe”) cigar is only wrapped in—not filled with or bound with—one of the rough-hewn, brownish-black tobaccos of the same name. However, last year, Caribe Imported Cigars, known for its full-bodied […]

“When I Think of the most memorable times in our lives, it’s always centered on food and wine,” remarked Margrit Mondavi, as she welcomed guests to a preview dinner last fall of the inaugural Pebble Beach Food & Wine event to be held in March at the fabled California resort. Although the dinner at the Napa […]

After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, a few hundred Huguenots, hoping to avoid religious persecution, fled France and settled on South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. The ruling Dutch government of the time gave many of the refugees land in a picturesque valley called Oliphantshoek (Elephant Corner), which soon became Franschhoek […]

Marco Coppiardi insists that by employing Antonio Stradivari’s antiquated techniques, he produces violins superior to any modern-made ones. Coppiardi, a 40-year-old luthier with dark hair and a small build, creates copies of instruments made more than 400 years ago by Stradivari and other Italian masters. He fashions their fronts and backs from Val di Fiemme […]

For 12 days last fall, at its expansive gallery in Manhattan’s hip Meatpacking District, the Phillips de Pury auction house presented 45 works by French jewelry designer Frédéric Zaavy. Each piece was displayed alone, in a black box and illuminated by a single spotlight. Intent on positioning jewelry as collectible, cutting-edge art, the 212-year-old New […]

Lamborghini’s cachet might be at an all-time high. After years of cash-flow problems and a parade of owners that has ranged from Chrysler to an Indonesian investment group, the snorting bull seems to have found its stride under Audi’s stewardship. At the factory in Sant’Agata, Italy, every car on the production lines is already spoken […]

Chris Dawson is pleased as punch with his latest assignment. As the blond, British captain strolls through Selene, a new, 184-foot semicustom sailing yacht from Perini Navi that has docked in Monaco, Dawson reflects on his good fortune; he says he could not have been given a better boat to pilot. Like other Perini Navi […]

To introduce L’Atlantide (Atlantis), its latest high-jewelry collection, Van Cleef & Arpels hosted a party, last November in Hong Kong, at which it tried to re-create the collection’s namesake city. Sounds and scents of the sea flowed throughout the venue where the Paris jewelry house staged the event; there were walls of falling water and […]

Portofino, St. Barts, Southeast Alaska, and Nantucket have distinctive dress codes. From the latest spring and summer menswear collections—which feature wind- and water-repellent jackets, linen and cashmere knits, and a boatload of seaworthy accessories—we chose ensembles that are perfect fits for these prime yachting destinations. And we offer suggestions on how to spend your time […]

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the opening of Amanpuri, the Phuket hideaway that eventually became the flagship of Amanresorts. Today, in addition to Amanpuri, the company operates 17 properties that draw Amanjunkies to such far-flung destinations as the Philippines, French Polynesia, Bhutan, and Jackson Hole. Some highlights: Amanwana Moyo Island is a nature […]

Adrian Zecha, founder and chairman of the Singapore-based Amanresorts group, may be the world’s most successful creator of playgrounds for the affluent. He certainly is one of the most enigmatic. Here is a former journalist and publisher who rarely speaks to the press, a developer who is zealous about preserving natural habitats, and a hotelier […]

Children shout as I pass through their villages; “Suuuuuu-per-maaaaan!” they scream at me. In Italy, where Ascari, Fangio, Moss, Nuvolari, and other legendary racecar drivers still are revered for their Mille Miglia exploits, a first-time participant would not expect such adulatory reactions from the young spectators lining the route for this, the 80th-anniversary running of […]

The Item This trio of baseball jerseys was worn during the 1909 season by Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance, the Chicago Cubs infielders immortalized in verse. Shortstop Tinker, second baseman Evers, and first baseman Chance turned double plays so regularly that they prompted Franklin Adams, a frustrated New York Giants fan, to lament […]

Sir John Leslie, the fourth of his line to hold the title of Baronet at Castle Leslie, is telling me about Jonathan Swift. Although Leslie is one of the few living Irish survivors of the Spanish flu (born in 1916, he says he remembers having a temperature of 106 degrees at the age of 3), […]