The World’s Top Resorts

Stuart Varney’s love affair with America started with a simple visit as a young man. “I really wanted to see America because that was the last big place I hadn’t been to,” recalls the 63-year-old British expatriate and world traveler, who is best known as the host of Fox Business Network’s Varney & Co. “And […]

‘‘My wife’s brother died in California, leaving quite an estate,’’ reads an 1879 letter from Stalham Wing in Napa Valley to a friend in Ohio. His family sent him out to settle affairs, he explains in the note, but legal challenges ensued, and by the time the matter was resolved, little property was left. He […]

When it comes to complications, Franck Muller’s movement developer, Jean-Pierre Golay, contends that simple can also be innovative. “We wanted to change directions completely,” he says, referring to the watch house’s newest creation, the rather impressively named Giga Tourbillon. “We wanted to create something very simple in the same dimensions as our recent complicated watches. […]

In the demure world of fine jewelry, where designers tend to play it safe when working with tens of thousands of dollars in diamonds and gemstones, Wilfredo Rosado is shaking things up. One of his first signature pieces—a gold-and-diamond cuff—is as exotic as a rare bird, sporting a four-inch-high fan of brightly colored feathers. He […]

The line between furniture and art has long been a blurry one. From Louis XIV’s baroque-inspired armchairs to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s iconic Barcelona chair and Salvador Dalí’s pop art Mae West sofa, history’s most enduring furnishings have borrowed from the artistic movements of their times. Now a new Manhattan-based company, Bespoke Global, is […]

When an exceptionally rare camera commands a record-setting sum, the sale usually takes place through Vienna-based WestLicht Photographica Auction. And more often than not, the record that was broken had been set at a WestLicht sale.   In recent years, WestLicht has presided over several six- and seven-figure transactions. In 2007, it auctioned an 1839 […]

In a race for pinks between Jaguar’s supercharged 550 hp XKR-S convertible and a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet, an aircraft that produces 36,000 pounds of thrust, which would win? For an hour one day in February, Navy air-traffic controllers closed the main runway at Southern California’s Naval Air Facility El Centro, the winter home of […]

When, toward the end of a career that spanned nearly eight decades, Pablo Picasso was asked which work he considered his finest, he supposedly replied, “The next one.” Some art critics today might disagree, arguing that had Picasso walked away from his easel by 1950, his oeuvre would not have suffered by so much as […]

Like a high-performance penthouse apartment at sea, Vertigo combines the advanced naval architecture of a racing yacht with the comfort and style of an upscale urban home. The 220-foot sailboat, which New Zealand builder Alloy Yachts completed last May, features ample interior and exterior spaces for as many as 12 guests, a fleet of toys […]

For 20 years, Michael Reslan was Brioni’s top salesman and executive vice president in the United States, traveling around the country helping high-powered executives build custom wardrobes. With his charisma and strong-shouldered sense of style, Reslan also became a friend and confidant to many of them: “When you eat and drink and fly with the […]

Two pairs of loudspeakers tower beside one another in Dave Wilson’s Provo, Utah, living room. He is preparing for a face-off: On one side are Wilson Audio’s much-lauded Alexandria Series 2 speakers, introduced in 2007, and on the other side is the latest in the series, the Alexandria XLFs. Each of the four stands nearly […]

Each May in New York, the art world holds its equivalent of the World Series: The Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sales, where two rival teams—Christie’s and Sotheby’s—square off by assembling the best rosters they can and testing them before a live audience.   It is a seasonal ritual that rivets the attention of the […]

Ron Bacardí de Maestros de Ron Vintage MMXII  Eight former Bacardí master blenders—all of them descendants of Bacardí founder Don Facundo Bacardí Massó—contributed to this special-edition rum, which commemorates Bacardí’s 150th anniversary. It was in 1862 that Don Massó—after refining his techniques for charcoal filtration, blending, and barrel aging—established his distillery in Santiago de Cuba, […]

High West Silver Whiskey, Western Oat  Though this clear spirit may look like moonshine, it is actually 80-proof unaged whiskey made from a mash of 85 percent oats and 15 percent malted barley. Distilled in Park City, Utah—a silver-mining mecca in the 19th century (hence the whiskey’s name)—this pristine distillate spent all of five minutes […]

Black Bull 40 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky  This Highland whisky has been around since 1864, but it enjoyed renewed prominence following the repeal of Prohibition. The 40 Year Old, a less potent blend, is composed of 10 percent single-grain whiskies and 90 percent single malts.The single malts range in age from 40 to 44 […]

High West Son of Bourye  In the 1932 Marx Brothers film Horse Feathers, a speakeasy employee named Baravelli (played by Chico Marx) receives a phone call from a patron ordering a quart of Scotch and a quart of rye. From the same jug, Baravelli fills two bottles, one labeled “Scotch” and the other “rye.” High […]

The King’s Ginger Liqueur  Berry Bros. & Rudd first formulated this bright, sweet, and naturally spicy liqueur in 1903 as a pick-me-up for King Edward VII. It must have worked, because that same year, His Majesty bestowed a Royal Warrant upon Great Britain’s oldest wine-and-spirits merchant. Although it never went out of production (it was […]

It seems ridiculous to call them speakeasies or hidden bars when they are some of the most celebrated craft cocktail establishments in the United States. But 12 years after Sasha Petraske opened Milk & Honey in New York City, the first of the modern speakeasies, what seemed destined to be a fad has instead turned […]

ARIZONA Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North SCOTTSDALE The hike through cactus fields…MORE   BRITISH COLUMBIA Four Seasons Resort Whistler WHISTLER Huge timber, stone, and glass chalet a few minutes from North America’s largest ski resort. Includes 273 accommodations and an in-house ski concierge with insider info on Whistler Blackcomb’s 200 trails. Mountain bike, […]

ENGLAND  Coworth Park  ASCOT  With its swan-shaped table bases…MORE  FRANCE  Cap Estel  EZE  Near Monaco on the Côte d’Azur, this 114-year-old seaside mansion on five palm-fringed acres offers 28 accommodations plus two pools, tennis courts, a screening room, and a popular restaurant. Ideal for hosting parties or for hiding out during the Cannes film festival […]

An unshakable desire to possess what divine providence or the dictates of overzealous lawmakers would deny us is a peculiarly American trait—one magnified to the point of frenzy by this nation’s curious social experiment, the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution. In its efforts to suppress the seemingly unwholesome appetites of the general public, this legislation […]

Mercedes-Benz had a good year in 2011, selling nearly 250,000 passenger vehicles in the United States alone—from C-Sedans to G-Wagons to SLS AMG Gullwings. But with such sales comes ubiquity: Mercedes-Benzes are so common in Southern California’s Orange County that they have been dubbed the “Chevrolets of the O.C.” This can be a dilemma for […]

The discovery last year of a rare 1955 alloy-bodied Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing was not the ultimate barn find, as originally reported. In order to be found, it had to have been lost. But the former owner always knew exactly where the car was, and the current owner learned of its location some 20 years ago. […]

BOTSWANA  Abu Camp  OKAVANGO DELTA  Completely revamped in 2011, this 20-year-old camp remains the best lodge for hands-on interaction with African elephants. Join Abu’s herd for a ride or walk through the astounding 450,000-acre Abu Concession, observe an elephant mud bath, and dine with mahouts before retiring to one of six tented suites. ($1,950 per […]

AUSTRALIA  Saffire Freycinet  TASMANIA  Breathe the world’s cleanest air and swim in its most pristine water at this 20-suite retreat set within view of Freycinet National Park. The suites—and a striking, manta ray–shaped main lodge that serves some of the world’s freshest seafood—are strung along the northern shore of Tasmania’s Great Oyster Bay. ($1,800–$2,800, all-inclusive) […]

ARGENTINA  Eolo  EL CALAFATE  At this 7,500-acre estancia and its lone 17-room lodge, guests can watch ostrichlike rheas grazing on the surrounding Patagonian steppe. Day trips by horseback, mountain bike, and four-wheel drive head to sites such as Perito Moreno Glacier, with its whale-size icebergs. ($825–$1,250, all-inclusive) http://www.eolo.com.ar BRAZIL Ponta dos Ganchos GOVERNADOR CELSO RAMOS […]

An ocean apart, two extraordinary meals start with carrots. At Noma, René Redzepi’s Copenhagen restaurant twice voted best in the world, the vegetables come planted in a clay flower pot, their green tops flopping jauntily over the edge, the roots nestled deep into a “dirt” made from dark hazelnut powder. At Ink in West Hollywood, […]