Cognac connoisseurs will be familiar with the house of Pierre Ferrand. Founded in 1702 in Grande Champagne at the very heart of the famous terroir, they’ve literally been cranking out the good stuff for centuries. Given the context, their newest and most aged and exclusive release, Single Vintage 1914, is “only” 95 years old.
But cognac distilled at the beginning of World War I isn’t exactly easy to come by these days, especially since when the local men went off to fight the stills were frequently left untended. Luckily the Ferrand fellows’ wives were more than equal to the task.
The Single Vintage 1914 is the jewel in Ferrand’s Collection Privée line of limited edition rare cognacs of exceptional quality. With a rich bouquet acquired over its long life, the 1914 eau-de-vie has a correspondingly long-lasting taste. Notes of prune and cherry preserves mix perfectly with vanilla, oak, chocolate and spice.
The color is equally intense with glints of rich mahogany. The secret, it seems, lies in the vineyards’ limestone soil providing the grapes with the necessary acidity needed to produce the cognac’s base wine. At $1,500 per bottle it’s not to be wasted on the unappreciative. But of course we know you’d never do that.
British watch customizer Pro-Hunter is to Rolex as AMG is to Mercedes-Benz – adept at improving upon the original with taste, style and a unique flair. The much-imitated firm was a pioneer in the use of anti-reflective PVD coatings to give gentlemen’s Rolexes a bit of a military flair.
Many Pro-Hunter designs pay homage to the Rolex golden years of the 1950’s and the 1960’s, in particular highly collectible models such as the Daytona with black anti-reflective bezel and the 4 line “James Bond” big crowns, with a fusion of the Rolex Military Submariners specially made for the Royal Navy’s Special Boat Squadron. In other words, the stuff of legends.
Pro-Hunter, as the name suggests, started out catering to the Rolex-sporting huntin’ & shootin’ community that congregates at England’s country houses, and evolved into designs for exclusive timepieces that are both practical and pleasing to the eye. Each Pro-Hunter model is produced in a limited edition of 100, individually numbered and engraved on the case back so you always know which one is yours.
Their newest creation is the Red Bezel Daytona Mk II. An artful take on a new version of the classic timepiece popularized by Paul Newman, the waiting list varies from 1 month to 1 year depending on availability of the model’s special Arabic Numerals dial. Should you be lucky enough to score one of the limited edition pieces (less than 100) it will run you £17,500, or about $29,000, and well worth every penny.
American crews made a rather poor showing at this year’s Henley Royal Regatta, winning just two of the 19 trophies at stake on finals day - and one of those in an all-American race. The latter was in the opening race, the Temple Cup for student eights, wherein Princeton’s lightweights beat Brown’s freshmen by three-quarters of a length. Brown’s varsity crew later beat Britain’s under-23 squad, racing as the Leander and Molesey clubs, in the Ladies’ Plate for intermediate eights by a half length. Leander and Molesey easily defeated a new US national team combination drawn from the California club and Princeton Training Center in the Grand Challenge Cup, perhaps the most prestigious trophy.
Well, so much for the sports. Sartorially, everything went swimmingly: club blazers, straw boaters and repp ties which haven’t changed all that much since the race’s inception in 1839, while some ladies in leftover hats from Ascot provided scenery and the Pimm’s flowed like water. Small wonder that, as Godfrey Smith writes in The English Season, Henley is considered something of “an Edwardian time warp.” The waiting list for the Stewards’ Enclosure, tactfully referred to as “a haven from the general bustle of the Regatta,” is still several years long, of course. And if you want our opinion, it’s the Leander Club’s (founded 1818) members’ bright pink togs that really give them the edge.
