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F E AT U R E S

THE PLACES TO BE IN 2018 Our annual travel issue highlights 21 destinations delivering unforgettable experiences, from Reykjavík—Iceland’s radically cool capital—to Botswana’s burgeoning safari scene, tranquil tropical escapes in Cambodia, breathtaking new adventures in Antarctica, and much more.…

SPECIAL SECTION BEGINS ON PAGE 101

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M

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High in the Green Hills We journey into Rwanda’s Virunga Mountains and beyond, where upscale lodges are fueling the country’s rise as Africa’s unexpected new safari star.

BY JACKIE CARADONIO

128

Tuscany to the Sea We set out on Satori, a new sailing yacht that brings the brilliance of Borgo Santo Pietro to the Mediterranean.

BY SAMANTHA BROOKS

136

Southern Nobility Tuscany’s Antinori family is reviving interest in the rustic region of Puglia as a new hub for cuisine, culture, and fine wine.

BY BRETT ANDERSON

142

Perfect Zen A new cruise takes passengers on a poetic pilgrimage through the watercolored wonders of western Japan.

BY AMANDA CASTLEMAN

148

Mastering the North Coast 500 We put Indian Motorcycle’s civilized touring bike to the test on Scotland’s wild and serpentine northern route.

BY CHRISTOPHER P. BAKER

152

Drive Frightful or fun? What it’s like behind the wheel of the 840 hp Dodge Challenger SRT Demon.

BY SHAUN TOLSON

156

STUART PEARCE

Socially Active Once a secretive association whose members were reluctant to discuss their status, the Social Register now encourages mixing and mingling.

BY JACK SMITH

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M

21

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RICHARD MILLE BOUTIQUES ASPEN • BAL HARBOUR • BEVERLY HILLS • BUENOS AIRES • LAS VEGAS • MIAMI • ST. BARTH • TORONTO

DEPARTMENTS

N TriFan 600; see page 50.

W Octomore Masterclass 08.2; see page 74.

N Club 3 1/3; see page 161.

S Rolex watch; see page 46.

30 32 34 36

ON THE WEB EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK QUANTUM VIEW PERFECT 10

S Case Study; see page 167.

The getaways our editors are dreaming of this year include sampling the culinary scene in Copenhagen, grabbing a slice of history in Sicily, and riding classic cars through Southeast Asia.

46

THE SOURCE FILE Crown & Caliber founder Hamilton Powell talks vintage timepieces and where to find them.

BY JUSTIN MASTINE-FROST

48

B E TA Introducing tomorrow’s most spellbinding technologies, from Elon Musk’s cosmic commuter rocket to a pen that doubles as a timepiece.

54

G E N I U S AT W O R K Explore the science behind

COVER ILLUSTRATION: SAM CHIVERS

good sleep, and see how Sweden’s Hästens makes snoozing the ultimate luxury.

N 1958 Porsche 550A; see page 83.

BY SANDRA RAMANI

58

Essential news across fashion, autos, travel, home, dining, and more.

83

167

BY ANGELA M.H. SCHUSTER

TIME WELL SPENT Shanghai, China’s everexpanding financial capital,

A R T I C L E S O F TA S T E A packing list for modern jet-setters: rumple-resistant blazers, travel-ready timepieces, and in-flight creature comforts.

CURIOS Upcoming auctions and fairs with something for everyone, from art to cars and books.

161

is a mesmerizing voyage through the past, present, and future. BY LAURIE WERNER

G A L L E RY

174

TIME PIECE Track the royally remarkable route of an oft-renamed 147foot Camper & Nicholsons yacht. BY DANIELLE CUTLER

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M

23

Brett Anderson EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, EDITOR IN CHIEF Bruce Wallin EXECUTIVE EDITOR Robb Rice CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Jay Penske CHAIRMAN & CEO

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TOURBILLON G-SENSOR RM 36-01 SEBASTIEN LOEB

RICHARD MILLE BOUTIQUES ASPEN • BAL HARBOUR • BEVERLY HILLS • BUENOS AIRES • LAS VEGAS • MIAMI • ST. BARTH • TORONTO

ON THE WEB R O B B R E P O R T. C O M

Winter Is Here Brave the weather with a cozy (and collectible) dram of Scotch whisky like Winter Storm— an experimental, one-time release from Glenfiddich. robbreport.com/ winterstorm

STORY OF THE MONTH

Ferocity at the Fringe These extreme machines may not be household names, but then, they were never meant for the masses. robbreport.com/ lesserknown supercars

READER SURVEY RESULTS

Which mountain resort would be your ultimate ski destination this winter? Our readers told us where they hope to find the perfect piste.

15%

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Niseko, Japan

30

J A N U A RY 2 0 1 8

49%

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Whistler, Canada

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Facebook Facebook.com/robbreport

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Facebook followers swarmed this story about a Richard Landry– designed château with its very own moat.

Instagram followers were divided over the news of the sale of Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi for $450 million.

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WHETHER YOU WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH, GAIN NEW INSIGHTS, OR JUST LOOK GOOD ALL YEAR LONG, ROBBREPORT.COM HAS COLLECTED SOME OF THE BEST WAYS TO FULFILL YOUR 2018 RESOLUTIONS.

Dive into This Yacht’s Ultimate Seaside Pool robbreport.com/seasidepool Tour the Yachts of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show robbreport.com/ibs17

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Hop Aboard Eclectic Sailing Yacht Pink Gin VI robbreport.com/pinkgin

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Gain New Perspective with These Ultimate Helicopter Trips robbreport.com/ultimatehelicoptertrips

Inside Leonardo Ferragamo’s $20 Million Superyacht robbreport.com/ferragamosuper

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M

31

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

“The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.”

— G . K . C H E ST E RTO N

Unexpected Pleasures

Brett Anderson

Executive Vice President, Editor in Chief

the british author, journalist, and longtime frenemy of playwright George Bernard Shaw observed—correctly—that the essence of travel is a matter less of geography and motion than of perception. Unexpected insights of the kind Chesterton would have endorsed certainly informed the centerpiece of our annual travel issue, “The Places to Be in 2018” (page 101). “Our readers’ travel tastes have evolved quite a bit in the 15 years I’ve been at Robb Report,” says executive editor and veteran rover Bruce Wallin, who championed the feature. “We’re venturing farther and to a wider

variety of destinations than ever before, inspired by everything from art fairs to extreme adventures. That diversity is reflected in our cover story, which spans the range from cultural events in Buenos Aires and Malta to luxury expeditions through Rwanda and Antarctica. That’s not to say we don’t still love the classics—Napa Valley and St. Barts rank high on our list after their rapid recoveries from fire and hurricane, respectively—but the tried-and-true destinations are now complemented by less-expected ones, opening up an even wider world to explore this year.”

on a sea voyage, the expected, rather than the unexpected, can preoccupy the traveler. In “Tuscany to the Sea” (page 128), Samantha Brooks explores some of Italy’s quieter stretches of coastline aboard the just-launched 135-foot sailing yacht Satori. “I took small-boat sailing classes in college and got some other certifications just after, but I would always get seasick on anything over about 40 feet, so I was a bit leery,” Samantha says. Luckily for her, the ship cruised like a dream. “But,” she adds, “if I had gotten sick, the onboard masseuse and 250-bottle wine cellar would have provided excellent remedies.”

some of the more memorable sights the sojourner sees are at the table, and nowhere is the table more lavishly equipped than in Shanghai, the subject of this month’s “Time Well Spent” (page 161). One of the top culinary destinations in Shanghai is DaDong, renowned for its succulent, crispy, and creatively prepared Peking duck, which editor Jill Newman sought out on a recent visit. “Without advance planning, I couldn’t even get a reservation,” she says. The numerous rebuffs, however, were softened by the announcement that Chef Dong is opening a restaurant in Jill’s hometown of New York. “Clearly the Chinese were extremely proud of their famous chef now being exported to America to introduce the traditional Peking duck with a twist,” Jill observes. “On my return, I was surprised to learn that many New Yorkers were also anxiously awaiting the opening of DaDong in Midtown. When the reservation line opened in the fall, more than 2,000 people called, and the restaurant is booked until mid-February.

I finally got the chance to taste the Peking duck at a press preview night, and it was worth the wait. As Chef Dong says, ‘It’s the only duck with skin so crispy that is shatters like glass.’ ” Sometimes, the traveler must return home to see—as well as to taste.

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SATORI : STUART PEARCE; RWANDA: JACKIE CARADONIO

nothing could be more unexpected than Rwanda’s rapid emergence as Africa’s most intriguing setting for safaris, as editor Jackie Caradonio observes in “High in the Green Hills” (page 92). Yet the astonishing landscapes proved less surprising than some of the country’s simple pleasures, such as the local banana wine Jackie savored on her drive from Kigali to the Virunga Mountains. “My driver Emmanuel had been singing the alcoholic beverage’s praises to me during our drive,” she recalls. “A simple fermented blend composed of only bananas and white sugar, the concoction was definitely a surprise to my taste buds—nothing like grape wine, a bit hoppy like beer, and overwhelmingly sweet and syrupy to the last drop. I wouldn’t make it my drink of choice, but it was indeed the perfect tipple for a long drive through the Rwandan countryside.”

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ALL

Quantum View The Arctic

Alaska

8 Canada

9

Portugal Alaska

2

5

2018

Napa Valley

San Francisco

Las Vegas

Grand Canyon

5

6

4

10

–

2014

New York

1 Orlando

3

Cuba

Los Angeles

Miami

Orlando

7

3

9

4

Hawaii

4

Belize

Mexico

2018

2

Maui

Cuba

1

2014

2

Colombia

–

2018

10

Dominican Republic

6

2014

Galápagos Islands

4

Galápagos Islands

–

2018

Costa Rica

for 2018, cold is hot. According to data compiled by travel network Virtuoso in its annual “Luxe Report,” affluent travelers looking for adventure are packing their bags for Iceland (27 percent), Antarctica (23 percent), and Alaska (15 percent), especially now that many luxury outfitters have made these journeys more comfortable. “This year, we noticed that the colder the climate, the hotter the destination. Iceland’s rapid rise in popularity is matched by an increased interest in Antarctica and Alaskan cruises,” says Misty Ewing Belles, managing director for global public relations at Virtuoso.

“We’re seeing demand for adventure travel escalating. The desire to explore undiscovered, untouched, and even untamed territory is driving visitors to destinations previously thought to appeal to the more intrepid traveler.”

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Italy remains a favorite for families, honeymooners, and globe-trotters and is second only to Thailand for millennials.

Iceland, which wasn’t even on the radar in 2015 for top international destinations, is just behind Italy in popularity this year, while France and England have dropped a few places. Both Turks and Caicos and Peru dropped off that top-10 list completely. For domestic travel, New York City and Maui crown the list—as they have since 2015—but Miami has risen to No. 3.

Perhaps the exploding culinary scene (food and wine travel has jumped to No. 4 in the trend category) is responsible for Los Angeles’s place in the top 10—the first time since 2015. L.A. is the third California location on the list for U.S. excursions, along with Napa Valley and Sonoma (No. 5) and the San Francisco Bay Area (No. 6). It seems California is maintaining its sheen as the Golden State. —JANICE O’LEARY

2018

5

4

The Amazon

2014

Galápagos Islands

8

When it comes to travel

10

Caribbean

Machu Picchu

Chile

–

2018

7

2014 South America

9

–

2014

Iceland

1

8

2018

2014

Croatia

Baltic

2

6

2018 England

France

Italy

8

10

1

European rivers

–

Turkey

2014

Japan

–

Venice

3

9

2018

Myanmar

Myanmar

3

2014

–

2018

–

Mediterranean

1

2

2018

Bhutan

2014

2014

Greek Isles

5

–

5

2018

2014

Vietnam Mekong River

10

9

Maldives

2018

Thailand

8

2018

–

3

2014

Cambodia

5OTěJ 2CEKĂE

7

2014 Great Barrier Reef

–

2018

6

2014

South Africa South Africa

7

6

2018

–

Australia/New Zealand

9

2014

Antarctica Antarctica

7

2018

–

2014

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M

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Perfect 10 THE DESTINATIONS OUR E D I T ORS A RE DRE A M ING ABOUT FOR 2018.

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CHAIYUN DAMKAEW/SHUT TERSTOCK

NATURAL TREASURE

1

P L I T V I C E L A K E S N AT I O N A L PA R K

:

“Ever since I discovered Croatia’s Plitvice Lakes National Park, I’ve been dying to go. A 2-hour drive from Zagreb, the forest reserve is home to 16 natural lakes and more than 90 waterfalls. Visitors travel on boardwalks built onto the water, with eight different routes winding around the flora and fauna. It might be at its best in winter, when many of the falls freeze into massive icicles.” —DIANE MOOSHOOLZADEH

T H E E D I T O R S ’ D R E A M D E S T I N AT I O N S F O R 2 0 1 8

2 PENINSULA, PLEASE P E N I N S U L A PA PA G AY O , C O S TA R I C A

:

“With the opening of the stylishly reimagined Four Seasons Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo late last year, the emerald spit of land jutting off the country’s northwestern shore is calling my name louder than ever.

After long days exploring the 1,400-acre peninsula’s miles of new nature trails and snorkeling off of a catamaran in the Gulf of Papagayo, I’ll be back at the Four Seasons taking a dip in my suite’s plunge pool or soaking up the sun on the resort’s beach.”

—PHOEBE NEUMAN

3 BESOS FOR

BARCELONA MYBA CHARTER SHOW

:

4 DESERT

“Barcelona has been on my list for as long as I can remember, but I’m eyeing the seaside city again this year in the hope of attending the 30thanniversary edition of the MYBA Charter Show, scheduled for April 23 through 26 at OneOcean Port Vell.

Climbing aboard superyachts, tasting the results of yacht-chef competitions, and partaking in the parties amid one of my most romanticized cities? Count me in.” —DANIELLE CUTLER

DUO

:

“Namibia has always been high on my safari list, and this year I have two compelling new reasons to go. The South Africa–based outfitter Natural Selection will unveil a pair of innovative lodges in 2018: The first, Hoanib Valley Camp, will debut in May among the towering sand dunes of the Hoanib River Valley, near the traditional villages of the Himba tribes. The second, the spectacular boat-shaped Shipwreck Lodge, will open on the country’s legendary Skeleton Coast.”

—JACKIE CARADONIO

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: DON RIDDLE; E-NONYMOUS; MARZIA FRANCESCHINI/SHUT TERSTOCK

NAMIBIA

Words don’t do it justice.

Some things in life just can’t be described. And to truly understand them, you must experience them yourself. Join us on the beautiful Palos Verdes Peninsula, a hidden gem on the Los Angeles coast.

This is the year to get away with each other and create lasting memories.

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T H E E D I T O R S ’ D R E A M D E S T I N AT I O N S F O R 2 0 1 8

7 KIWI CRAZED NEW ZEALAND’S SOUTH ISLAND

:

“I lived in Wellington, New Zealand, for a bit but never visited the South Island. This year I plan to change that. First, I’ll helicopter over Fox Glacier on the western coast, then I’ll saddle up for a horse trek through Mount Aspiring National Park. Later I’ll kayak through Milford Sound to take in its waterfalls, craggy fern-covered cliffs, and fur-seal colonies; then (finally), I’ll stand firm on the nation’s southernmost tip, Slope Point.” —CAROLYN MEERS

5 FULL-THROTTLE FORAY R O A D T O S A I G O N R A L LY

:

“I’m enticed by exotic cars and exciting cultures, which is why the Road to Saigon rally—a 27-day drive through Southeast Asia from February 4 through March 2— really gets my motor running. Open to classics built before 1977, the tour, which costs about $43,000 per crew of two, travels from Singapore to Vietnam by way of Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia.” —VIJU MATHEW

6 ISLAND IMMERSION S I C I LY

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—JILL NEWMAN

BOT TOM RIGHT: SHUT TERSTOCK

:

“I’m heading to Sicily this summer to explore its isolated beaches and rich culture. I’ll start at the historic Belmond Villa Sant’Andrea, a secluded beachfront retreat that offers day trips to remote Filicudi island in the Aeolian archipelago to meet local artisans. Next stop will be the cliffside Belmond Grand Hotel Timeo, which looks out to Mount Etna and the medieval city of Taormina below. It beckons me with a culinary tour to the homes of local mamas, who will teach us to prepare traditional pasta dishes so we can taste Sicily at home.”

“Start the conversation … I personally welcome your call.” — Martin

B E V E R L Y

H I L L S

•

N E W

Y O R K

•

B E R G D O R F

G O O D M A N

5.18ct and 5.02ct Pear Shaped Diamonds, each topped with 4 round brilliant diamonds ranging from 0.41cts to 1.01cts and microset with 4 diamonds, all set in Platinum. ©2017. Martin Katz, LTD.

T H E E D I T O R S ’ D R E A M D E S T I N AT I O N S F O R 2 0 1 8

8 GREAT DANE NOMA 2.0

:

“The most influential restaurant of its generation is reopening this year, and I want to head to Copenhagen to try it out. Chef René Redzepi says his new iteration of Noma will be seasonal, divided into three phases: seafood in the winter, vegetable in the summer, and game and forest in the fall. For each phase, the restaurant will scrap its menu from the previous 4 months and begin anew, inspired by the seasonal theme.”

—JEREMY REPANICH

S 9 GEORGIA’ ON MY MIND TBILISI AND BEYOND

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10 WELL

TRAVELED 2 0 1 8 W E L L N E S S R E T R E AT S

:

“I couldn’t choose among the wellness destinations I hope to experience this year, so my resolution is to visit all three. Santorini is first on the agenda in May, when Tone Escapes will offer one of its new fitness trips led by SoulCycle instructors in partnership with Ovation Vacations. The Ranch Malibu is planning an expansion into Sonoma, Calif., where I expect some killer hikes (and views!) and gourmet raw vegan cuisine. Culinary adventure is also a lure at Tennessee’s Blackberry Mountain, which will open a new property at the end of the year. Hikes in the Smokies will be balanced with spa sessions to feed body and soul.” —JANICE O’LEARY

NOMA: LAURA L.P./HDG PHOTOGRAPHY; SANTORINI: CHRISTOS DRA ZOS; TBILISI: COURTESY THE BILTMORE HOTEL TBILISI

:

“Paul McCartney’s riff on the former Soviet Bloc country of Georgia is striking a chord with me in 2018. David Jones, chairman and cofounder of the travel outfitter Nomad Hill, has been singing Georgia’s praises to me for the past couple years, and it’s time I heeded his advice. In addition to the ancient capital of Tbilisi— where new and impending hotels include a Millennium Biltmore and an InterContinental—I’ll head for the peaks of Gudauri for some heli-skiing and to the countryside of Kakheti for wine tasting in one of the world’s oldest viticultural regions.” —BRUCE WALLIN

Some watches tell time.

Some tell a story

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For nearly three centuries, Jaquet Droz has placed time under the banner of astonishment, excellence and constantly renewed creativity.

Grande Seconde Moon Ivory Enamel

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Forecasting

Time The Source File

As the founder of Crown & Caliber, HAMILTON POWELL holds a position in the pre-owned-watch marketplace that provides a unique outlook on the world of horology.

The successes and failures of the timepieces that pass through his doors play at least an ancillary role in determining future releases from manufacturers. In addition, his network of contacts in the vintage marketplace serves as an accurate gauge of trends among consumers and collectors. On a personal and professional level, Powell conveys a passion that proves infectious to novices and cognoscenti alike. —JUSTIN MASTINE-FROST

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W Crown & Caliber inventory

Shopping Abroad As global as the watch market is, there are clearly some brands that are undervalued in certain regions. For example, in Paris I found a supercool vintage LeCoultre alarm for $1,200, which would easily sell for $2,200 in the U.S. The One That Got Away I have been quietly collecting the original Type XX watches, which were created in the early ’50s for the French Air Force by four different brands: Vixa, Auricoste, Airain, and Breguet. I have all but the Breguet, as I have been patiently waiting for one that was perfect.

While in France recently, I found a perfect specimen.

I didn’t pull the trigger fast enough and so lost out.

THIS SPREAD: JONATHAN MCWHORTER

Zero to Nerd When I was a kid, my dad always wore the same Rolex Datejust. As a result, I have always been a watch appreciator, but it wasn’t until I founded Crown & Caliber that I became a watch nerd.

I always wondered why it was easy and safe to buy a pre-owned car yet so difficult and scary to buy a pre-owned watch. So I started Crown & Caliber to make it easy and profitable to buy or sell a preowned watch.

What to Watch The retail market for new watches is always a precursor to what will happen in the pre-owned market. Instead of releasing new models, for instance, the brands are milking their iconic models even more. We see this with the Tudor Black Bay, Rolex Daytona, and Omega Speedmaster. So we expect the demand for these models to remain strong in the pre-owned market. Also, the current surge in demand for sport models in retail will lead to a flood of these watches in the pre-owned arena in the next 2 to 5 years.

Risky Business Five years ago, a vintage

Rolex

Heuer Siffert was $4,500. Last week, I saw one in a store window for $16,000. New buyers will pay anything. You can still pick up the occasional deal on eBay or your local watch shop—but not without significant risk. For the riskaverse, I recommend estate sales and small auctions.

Daytona 16520 that traded for around $8,000 just 12 months ago now sells for around $11,500 due to the many record sales of vintage Rolex Daytonas—most notably Paul Newman’s, which brought more than $17 million.

“New buyers will pay anything.

You can still pick up the occasional deal on eBay or your local watch shop—but not without significant risk. “

Retail Redux Luxury retail must be redefined. Retailers must pay attention to every detail of the customer journey, and that experience cannot solely be had in a marble showroom. They must meet the customers where they are, and that includes online. We believe a true omni-channel approach is imperative to selling watches.

This huge Swiss industry can be slow to change, but change must occur for the watch industry to stay relevant. That means an investment in digital properties.

Of course, the downstream effect of this will most likely be that brands will sell direct to the consumer.

Type XX models

Then Is Now The vintage market is having a positive effect on the modern pre-owned and new retail segments. As witnessed by the profusion of vintage-inspired watches at Basel this year, the brands are closely watching the vintage market for inspiration in making new product offerings. The vintage market also plays an important role in determining consumer demand for modern pre-owned watches. A modern Rolex

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M

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B E T A

AN INSIDE TRACK ON THE POSSIBLE AND PROBABLE FUTURE

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DIAMETRIC DESIGN CONCEPT: C2 DESIGNER: SALAFF DESIGN ODDS OF PRODUCTION:

SHOULD BE READY TO SHOW BY AUGUST

As renderings of the new C2 supercar from Salaff Design reveal, automotive architect Carlos Salaff believes that the most beautiful forms are a

study in contrasts. “Design languages boil down to a few extremes,” he says.

“Lamborghini, for example, has a super-faceted aesthetic, while Mercedes and Infiniti look for liquidity. I’m trying to marry both of those expressions with an elegance that hasn’t been seen before.”

Salaff found inspiration for his creation from classic racers. “I’m really drawn to the tactility of those early cars—the snap of a toggle switch, the movement of

analog gauges—and wanted to celebrate the connection between man and machine.”

Thus, the C2 features an aluminum chassis, a body of carbon fiber and hand-beaten aluminum, and a 5-liter V-10 engine. The result is a vehicle described as “a Porsche 917 for the year 2025.” You won’t have to wait that long, though; a prototype will be presented at the 2018 Monterey Car Week, in August, before commissioned production commences. —VIJU MATHEW

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BETA HELLA-COOL HELI-JET CONCEPT:

T R I FA N 6 0 0

DESIGNER:

XTI AIRCRAFT

ODDS OF PRODUCTION:

A P R O T O T Y P E TA K E S F L I G H T T H I S S U M M E R

The six-person TriFan 600 could become the world’s first operational hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing business aircraft after initial flight tests start this summer. Three ducted fans pivot so that the vehicle can take off and land vertically from any small landing spot and then, in business-jet mode, climb to 29,000 feet in 11 minutes, reaching 300 knots.

Its hybrid-electric propulsion is based on a single turboshaft engine connected to the

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generators that power the individual electric motors in the fans.

Beyond the TriFan 600’s emissions, which are much lower than a business jet’s, operating costs are about a third of those of similar business aircraft. “The flight-control computers are so sophisticated that you need minimal input from the pilot,” says Robert LaBelle, CEO of XTI Aircraft and the former CEO of Agusta Westland North America. “Everything is

fly-by-wire, and the aircraft has a stick and throttle so it’s flown like a business jet rather than a helicopter. We’ve even built in safeguards so that if the pilot tries to make an unsafe maneuver, the computer won’t allow it.”

Theoretical validation of the TriFan 600 has been done through computer testing.

Three prototypes will be used as the vehicle moves through FAA certification. LaBelle expects production to start in 2023. —MICHAEL VERDON

Giving new meaning to the term “hybrid concept,” the Anura Rafael Write Time is a captivating mash-up of a fountain pen and a mechanical wristwatch—an analog counterpoint to the digital smart devices we rely on to communicate and tell time.

Anura Rafael, a 15-year veteran of the Swiss watchmaking industry, debuted the concept in May to introduce his namesake brand. Made from solid 18-karat pink gold wrapped in supple alligator leather, the fountain pen is topped with a mechanical timepiece housed in a detachable sapphire module. Once freed from the proprietary quickunlocking mechanism that holds it in place, the watch

can be slipped into a pink-gold holder on a hand-stitched alligatorleather band to wear on the wrist. The movement bears a transversal configuration that displays the time using three rollers with hand-engraved, handpainted numerals that are visible through the sapphire case. Wound and set via an oversize crown, the watch has a 1-minute tourbillon and relies on dual barrels to provide a 48-hour power reserve.

Rafael is accepting commissions for the Write Time concept (about $250,000), which also comes with a leather travel case that holds all of the pen’s pieces, an inkpot, and other sundries.

—JOHN LYON

TIME AND A PEN CONCEPT:

WRITE TIME

DESIGNER:

A N U R A R A FA E L

ODDS OF PRODUCTION:

ITS STORY IS READY TO BE WRITTEN

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BETA

ROCKET MAN CONCEPT:

BFR

DESIGNER:

S PA C E X

ODDS OF PRODUCTION:

Getting to any place on Earth in under an hour has been a sci-fi dream since the 1950s, when scientists realized a rocket could be launched and delivered anywhere else in the time it takes to deliver a pizza.

At long last, SpaceX CEO and head designer Elon Musk is planning to make this a reality. The company recently unveiled plans for its new BFR, a behemoth that stands 348 feet tall (with the launch system) and, with 11.8 million pounds of thrust, is about 57 percent more powerful than the Saturn V that in the late 1960s took astronauts to the moon.

SpaceX intends to use the BFR to go to the International Space Station, the moon, and Mars—but has also announced plans to start city-to-city passenger service with its fully reusable rocket. Sometime in the 2020s, you might be able to board in New York and disembark in Paris 30 minutes later, or travel from London to Hong Kong in 34 minutes—and see Earth from space in the process. —DAVE JOHNSON

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E LO N M U S K U S U A L LY W I N S

Genius at Work

Dream Weaver In crafting the world’s finest mattresses, HÄSTENS makes a good night’s sleep the ultimate luxury.

By Sandra Ramani 54

J A N U A RY 2 0 1 8

The blended filling is layered between springs that are built with a proprietary metal and shape-preserving coating.

2

Natural Benefits N The mattresses contain only sustainably sourced fill. Flax helps divert static electricity; fire-retardant, insulated wool blended with natural cottons helps regulate temperature and encourage ventilation.

5

Base Camp N High-quality pine from northern Sweden—where limited sunshine makes for slower-growing, more resilient trees—is used to craft the base. Cotton and flax help block dust and aid ventilation.

7

In Stitches Hand stitching gives shape and stability to the sides of the mattress. The quantity and the spacing of the stitches vary by model.

8

Putting It to Bed N Sewing tufts, loops, and quilted patterns helps lock the materials and create comfort.

The mattress, base, and topper are then triple-checked for quality, completing a process that can take as much as 320 hours of labor.

Stuff It Hästens’s longtime suppliers weave, color, and coil the horsetail hair to precise specifications. Once received, the ropes are separated into different lengths and microcurls before being teased and fluffed.

4

Take Cover To create a mattress cover, fabric is hung for 3 days— removing any innate tension and attaining the optimum temperature and moisture levels—before being hand cut.

N

N

3

N

6 Core Values N

Equine Inspiration Hästens’s researchers call horsetail hair a “magic fiber” for its microscopic cavities.

The hand-teased hair in each mattress helps offer support, circulate air, and wick moisture.

ästens, the Swedish bed maker known for

its horsetail-hair-stuffed mattresses with six-figure price tags, has been the ultimate purveyor of beauty sleep for more than 150 years. Founded in 1852, the family-owned brand produces handcrafted mattresses that are customized to accommodate everything from body composition to temperature preferences. A closer look at the meticulous and often months-long process of building a single Hästens mattress—each of which is created in the company’s state-of-the-art, Ralph Erskine–designed “Santa’s workshop” in Köping, Sweden—reveals why the blue-checkered mattress is still the king of beds.

E

H

1

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Make 2018 Fun

RESOLUTION NO. 1

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PA L Á C I O TA N G A R Á TA K E S I T E A SY I N S Ã O PA U LO

park

palace Nobody comes to São Paulo to relax. The pulsating Brazilian metropolis is home to more than 12 million people—and they all seem to be doing something fabulous and exciting at any given hour. Behind the walls of the city’s new Palácio Tangará (oetkercollection .com), however, lies an elegant antidote to the ebullient energy.

Opened in May, the 141-room hotel is secreted away among the lush forests and gardens of the Burle Marx Park in the upscale Morumbi neighborhood.

But you won’t find tropical decor here: The neoclassical estate combines materials like silk and suede with

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vintage and custom furnishings and contemporary art. Rooms overlook the royal palms and majestic woods of the park, with only the occasional glimpse of the distant skyline reminding guests of the bustling city. The result is an exclusive enclave where even locals come to retreat from the frenzy, dining at Tangará JeanGeorges (Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s first Brazilian restaurant), cocktailing at the swanky Burle Bar, and, dare we say, relaxing at the Flora Spa and cabana-lined swimming pool.

—SANDRA RAMANI

Gallery

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GALLERY

W I T H A N E W S U P E R YA C H T C O N C E P T, B A G L I E T T O G O E S B O L D LY I N T O T H E F U T U R E

rewriting history

baglietto’s new 134-foot V-Line has set the Italian marque on a new course without abandoning roots that stretch back 163 years. Designed by Hot Lab, one of Italy’s most sought-after yacht studios, the 135-foot concept has the traditional horizontal lines that have come to represent Baglietto (baglietto.com), but a vertical bow, extensive glass, and an elaborate beach club show where the brand is headed. For the sundeck, which is wedge-shaped, Hot Lab used design cues from Bertone’s 1970 Stratos Zero—one of the most dramatic concepts in automotive history.

Thanks to the yacht’s enormous volume, Hot Lab was able to maximize the social areas inside and out. The sundeck, with its wet bar and lounges, offers 360-degree views of the water, while the beach club at the water’s edge has a gym and steam room. Sliding windows on three sides of the dining room turn it into an alfresco eating area, and the owner’s suite has its own dressing room, office, and private terrace.

The V-Line is definitely not your parents’ Baglietto. “The design limitations from the yard were modest,” says Hot Lab designer Antonio Romano. “That let us reinterpret the well-known personality of Baglietto but as a modern yacht with appealing lines, and one that oozes Italian style.” —MICHAEL VERDON

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GALLERY

FA S H I O N M E E T S F U N C T I O N I N A R E C R E AT I O N A L G O L F WAT C H

tee despite its introduction by PGA star and Hublot brand ambassador Dustin Johnson, the company’s new golf watch is not aimed at the professional ranks, according to product and purchasing director Raphaël Nussbaumer. “This is a useful and relevant product,” he says, “but most professionals are so concerned with their performance, they don’t really want to play with a watch on their wrists.” Instead, the Hublot Big Bang Unico Golf ($31,500; 800.536.0636, hublot.com) is geared toward recreational golfers who will appreciate its ability to keep score as well as its good looks on the fairway and in the clubhouse.

Hublot has equipped a version of its in-house Unico movement with a dial-side golf-scoring mechanism that operates a little like the chronograph mechanism it replaces.

Pushers at 2 and 4 o’clock totalize the number of shots per hole and advance the hole number as the game progresses. When the game is finished, a button at 8 o’clock resets all the counters. Because the golf mechanism is not mechanically linked to the base movement, the company installed extra-strong componentry to ensure a higher level of reliability.

Keeping the weight down was also key. Hublot managed to keep the watch to 95 grams (about 3.35 oz.), using carbon fiber in the upper case and another black composite material in the middle case band. The lightness encourages players to wear the watch on the course, as does the outer coating of Texalium—Hublot’s blend of carbon fiber and aluminum— which complements the technical construction of modern golf equipment. —JAMES D. MALCOLMSON

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GALLERY

A F O R M E R P O L I C Y E X P E R T ’ S R E M A R K A B L E J E W E L RY B O U T I Q U E

vintage

vanguard

Designs from the Mahnaz Collection include a scorpion necklace by Elsa Peretti for Tiffany & Co. and a ring and cuff by Richard Chavez.

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Beffore presenting jewelry to a client, Mahnaz Ispahani Bartos may spend months or years researching d gathering pieces by an influenand tial jeweler or from a certain design mov vement. The collector’s curatorial app proach creates a narrative and histtorical context for designs that set the Mahnaz Collection (mahnaz colllection.com) apart from other vinttage-jewelry boutiques. “I like to brin ng lost masters to the fore to tell theiir story—who made it, when they mad de it, and the cultural context in whiich they made it,” says Ispahani Bartos, who last summer moved her grow wing business from her private stud dio to a larger, by-appointment galllery on Midtown Manhattan’s East 57th Street.

Her H own story is compelling, too. The global policy expert turned vinttage-jewelry dealer worked for the New York–based Ford Foundation n for 10 years before launching her vinttage-jewelry collection in 2012.

“At the Ford Foundation, our philosophyy was to give people voice. That is what w I want to do with the jewelry as well,” w she says. If policy and jewelryy seem unlikely bedfellows, they have a connection in Ispahani Bartos.

Jew welry is part of her roots: “I come from m a culture where we’re always invo olved with jewelry. I was raised arou und jewelers, and it has always been in my life.” Born in Pakistan, she began collecting pieces early, acceessorizing her dolls with emeerald earrings handed down from her grandmother.

I the 6 years since founding In her business, Ispahani Bartos has garn nered a loyal clientele who rely on her h for a range of vintage jewelry, from m examples by revered houses (starting at $7,500) to those of lesser-known jewelry artists (from $2,000). This eclectic mix includes a Mellerio dits Meller brooch with lapis lazuli and diamonds, textured gold rings by 20th-century designer Andrew Grima, and a Van Cleef & Arpels two-headed eagle pendant from the 1970s, to name a few.

Ispahani Bartos is currently focusing her attention on the works of Native American jewelry designers. “What interests me in [Native American] jewelry is the play between tradition and ideas about what is modern,” she says. To date, she has acquired pieces ranging from Richard Chavez’s sugilite mosaic rings and bracelets to Charles Loloma’s textured tufa-cast cuff bracelets and the Yazzie family’s sophisticated silverwork pendants, bangles, and rings. She plans to unveil the exhibition early this year. —CAROLYN MEERS

Stay. The water’s perfect.

SOUTH OCEAN BLVD MANALAPAN FL RESERVATIONS

EAUPALMBEACH COM

GALLERY

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I N T E R P R E T I N G T H E P O R S C H E 9 9 3 F O R T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U RY

a masterpiece

mirrors). The contemporary coupe carries a 4-liter naturally aspirated air-cooled engine—from Oregon-based Rothsport Racing—that puts out 431 hp and generates 320 ft lbs of torque. Also part of the power train is a custom Getrag G50 6-speed manual transmission.

“One of the reasons I wanted to take on this project was to inspire the younger generation to learn how to drive a manual transmission,” says Nam. “I want this car to be something my young son can enjoy 10 years down the road.”

Only 25 examples of the 400R will be made by Gunther Werks, each starting at $525,000—not including the original 993. Deliveries will start at the beginning of 2018.

—VIJU MATHEW

CLIFFORD SUTRISNO

reimagined

the engineers and designers at Gunther Werks (gunther werks.com), based in Orange County, Calif., have built off the brilliance of the Porsche 993—the last air-cooled car in the marque’s 911 line—and made it even more sublime.

“The 993 is considered by all Porsche enthusiasts to be the best 911 variant made to date,” says Gunther Werks’ CEO, Peter Nam. “The performance and beautiful design of the 993, combined with new technology, are ingredients for success.”

The remastering begins with a 993 donor vehicle that must be a street-legal example from 1994 through 1998.

Gunther Werks then crafts a hand-built body—considerably wider than the original one— composed entirely of carbon fiber (save for the doors and

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GALLERY

C A L I F O R N I A ’ S L E G E N D A RY D E S E R T PA R A D I S E G E T S C O N T E M P O R A RY Colony Palms Hotel

palm springs

forward

Part of Palm Springs’ allure is that it never really changes. The storied playground of the Hollywood elite is a well-preserved snapshot of 1950s glamour, its palm-tree-lined pools and midcentury-modern homes seemingly frozen in time since the days of Sinatra. But look closely and you’ll see a transformation is afoot.

Behind the classic white facade of the historic Holiday House (holidayhouseps.com), the 1950s-era motel has been reborn as a posh 28-room retreat, where a vibrant blue-and-white

color palette and impressive contemporary-art collection have created an effortlessly chic—and endlessly Instagrammable—new hot spot.

Nearby, the Colony Palms Hotel (colonypalms hotel.com) looks much as it did in 1936, when Al Wertheimer of the infamous Purple Gang opened it as the less-than-reputable Colonial House. Inside, however, the property is fresh off a multimillion-dollar renovation that brings breezy Mediterranean decor to its 57 rooms, suites, and casitas, as well as its Purple Palm

Kimpton Rowan Palm Springs

COLONY PALMS: SCOT T CHEBEGIA; HOLIDAY HOUSE: ZEKE RUELAS; KIMPTON: LAURE JOLIET

Holiday House

restaurant and Olive Room lounge.

Meanwhile, making the case for 21st-century style is the Kimpton Rowan Palm Springs (kimpton hotels.com), a sleek new seven-story building that gives the city’s iconic architecture the modern treatment with floor-to-ceiling windows and of-the-moment design. Taking the Palm Springs social scene to new heights is the 153-room hotel’s rooftop pool (the only one in town) and 4 Saints restaurant, both of which offer unrivaled views of the Coachella Valley. —PHOEBE NEUMAN

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GALLERY

A N A C C L A I M E D C H E F ’ S R A R E C R E AT I O N

When Masa Takayama came to Los Angeles in the late 1970s and eventually opened Ginza Sushi-Ko, the Japanese-born chef kickstarted the city’s love for sushi. In 2004, with the encouragement of Thomas Keller—who was opening Per Se in New York—Takayama left the City of Angels for the Big Apple, soon establishing one of the finest restaurants in America with his Michelin threestar Masa.

But after arriving in New York, he felt something was missing.

He envisioned the kind

of place he’d want to visit on his day off, to sip a martini—extra cold, with dry gin and three olives—and enjoy some of his favorite comfort foods, like a hamburger or steak seared over a traditional Japanese grill called a robata. So this past November, he opened that restaurant himself in Tribeca: Tetsu (tetsunyc.com).

Inside a building constructed in 1865, Takayama designed the restaurant so that diners can see food grilling on the robata, evoking what they’d witness in a Japanese home. Along with salads, stews, and raw fish dishes, Tetsu serves refined yet accessible food from the grill, like chili pork-sausage skewers, tamarind baby back ribs, and skirt steak.

at the 70

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plate

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—JEREMY REPANICH

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GALLERY

S H A F E R V I N E YA R D S R E T H I N K S I T S A P P R O A C H T O O N E O F V I T I C U LT U R E ’ S M O R E C H A L L E N G I N G VA R I E TA L S

merlot by any other name

An inherited piece of farming equipment intended to help secure the future of one of Napa Valley’s best-known vineyards very nearly eclipsed it. “We have a term called tractor blight,” says Doug Shafer, who, along with his father, John, established Shafer Vineyards in the Stags Leap District as one of California’s most prestigious labels. He recalls that in the early 1970s, shortly after acquiring a parcel of land in wine country, John—a former business executive—took to agricultural pursuits with hazardous zeal. “There was also this old International Harvester TD-9 crawler tractor. The 60-year-old vines on the place were spaced 8 by 8 feet, so you could crisscross back and forth with the equipment. But the tractor was 7 feet by 6 inches wide. So, being a rookie, my father took out a lot of vines.”

Fortunately, enough of the vineyard survived to produce the family’s 1978 Cabernet Sauvignon, the forerunner of Shafer’s now-legendary Hillside Select. Not all the wines in the portfolio, however, enjoyed such a smooth evolution. The Merlot, for instance, was inconsistent, in terms of both quantity and

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quality: a source of frustration for winemaker Elias Fernandez.

“You know Merlot,” he told Doug during the 2015 harvest. “It’s up and down every year. It’s Sideways,” he added, referring to the 2004 film that famously blasted the varietal. “If I didn’t have to call it Merlot, I could make a better wine every vintage.”

A month later, Doug asked Fernandez to show what he could do. In the lab, they blindtasted two different blends. Both agreed that the glass on the left tasted and smelled better, and when the labels were revealed, the preferred sample was an amalgam of 50-plus percent Merlot combined with portions of Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. The other was their classic estate Merlot. “I said, ‘Let’s do this,’” Doug recalls.

The inaugural 2015 vintage, priced at $60, emanates a perfume of black plum, wild strawberry, thyme, and lavender, while its elegant finish reveals bright acidity and tantalizing mineral notes. The wine’s name, TD-9, may be less refined than its flavor profile, but it is fitting nevertheless. Shafer’s legacy, after all, began on a tractor.

—BRETT ANDERSON

P H O T O BY M I C H A E L B U C K N E R

GALLERY

O C T O M O R E ’ S L AT E S T P E AT Y W H I S K Y B E A R S F R U I T

sophisticated held Sauternes, Mourvèdre, and Austrian sweet wine. Those whiskies were then vatted and matured for an additional 2 years in first-fill barrels that held amarone. The spirits’ interaction with those amarone-soaked casks is largely responsible for the whisky’s attractive russet-gold hue.

Fruity aromas of stewed apples, raspberries, and black currants balance the single malt’s characteristic peat smoke. On the palate, cask-imparted sweetness makes the first impression and also lingers—a welcome counterpoint to the strength of a whisky bottled at a bold 116.8 proof. A touch of water reveals floral and citrus notes. —SHAUN TOLSON

ST YLIST: DAPHNA GUT TIN

If the Bruichladdich distillery on the Scottish island of Islay is best known for its annual Octomore iterations—limited-edition, peaty single-malt whiskies that are distinct in flavor thanks to the ever-changing assemblage of casks in which they are matured and finished—the latest such release from the brand promises to bolster that reputation. The Octomore Masterclass 08.2 ($200, available exclusively in duty-free shops worldwide; bruichladdich.com) is a refined whisky characterized by maturation in casks that once held a variety of grape-based libations.

At its core, Masterclass 08.2 is a marriage of spirits matured for 6 years in second-fill casks that

Tom Dixon Tank glassware (tomdixon.net)

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P H O T O BY M I C H A E L B U C K N E R

THE URHOUR SATELLITE INDIC AUTOMATIC WINDING REGUL ATED B W W W.URW

UR-105 CT

GALLERY

P U I F O R C AT ’ S N E W PA R I S S A LO N G E T S T H E D E S I G N E R T R E AT M E N T

très beau

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The French don’t go shopping; they go for unplanned walks and naturally find something extraordinary. That elegant sense of discovery permeates the new Puiforcat salon in Paris (puiforcat.com).

The antithesis of a typical showroom, the new quarters for the iconic French silversmith are the work of the celebrated designer Tristan Auer, whose chic-with-substance bona fides range from the memorable interiors at the recently renovated Hôtel de Crillon to creations for Cartier, Chanel, and Nina Ricci. Auer designed the space to unfold like an apartment, with passage into different realms of the Puiforcat story. “I love to get caught up in adventures,” he says. “The best is to manage design and decoration to make life softer.”

The vestibule, with its Auer

reproduction of a 1920s Jean Puiforcat rug, details the history and heritage of the French house, which dates back almost 200 years. The dark-walled tailored lounge and living room were created as intimate places to become immersed in the collections—a mix of tabletop, serving pieces, objects, decoration, and special editions—while the workshop room is a crisp white ode to the company’s artisan essence, displaying raw tools (used in the silver-making process for centuries) alongside finished Puiforcat works.

The dining room will host private events and receptions— an ideal way to taste life à la Puiforcat. But for collectors and new initiates to the brand in particular, the salon might be the perfect place for wandering and getting lost the French way.

—ARIANNE NARDO

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GALLERY

S H I N I N G E Y E W E A R F R O M A D Y N A M I C FAT H E R – S O N D U O

When Larry Leight founded Oliver Peoples in Los Angeles in 1987, he sparked an eyewear revolution. His mod-inspired, Japanese-made frames were an instant hit, appearing first on famous Hollywood faces before finding a global audience. Leight’s son, Garrett, later followed suit, founding Garrett Leight California Optical in 2010 after working at his father’s company, which was acquired by Luxottica in 2007. Garrett’s effortlessly cool frames quickly became the go-to for his own generation of L.A. glitterati—and his namesake brand took off with such speed that he brought his father on as a consultant.

Now father and son are introducing Mr. Leight (mrleight.com), a line of sunglasses

and optical frames designed with the jet set in mind. Available in Garrett Leight California Optical boutiques and at Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys New York stores, the inaugural collection—six sunglasses styles and seven optical frames—evokes Los Angeles while capturing the brand’s ethos of quiet luxury.

“The Mr. Leight man is [someone with] a strong sense of style,” says Garrett. “He discovers things on his own and doesn’t necessarily want branded things or logos because that’s what all of his friends have.”

Indeed, the appeal of the classic notchbridge Getty ($665), the Rodeo metal aviators ($795), and the quirky Doheny ($795) comes from thoughtful details, such as a subtle rosegold inlay that underwent 21 permutations. The various styles—handmade by some of the same Japanese artisans that assembled the first pairs of Oliver Peoples glasses more than 30 years ago—showcase Larry’s technical knowledge and penchant for innovation, with such elements as removable top bars, adjustable temples, and flexible arms for all-day comfort and travel-friendly durability.

—PHOEBE NEUMAN

bright

ST YLIST: DAPHNA GUT TIN

leights

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P H O T O BY M I C H A E L B U C K N E R

GALLERY IN BRIEF

blockbuster ride

motor city sounds

Aptly named, the Bandit9 Dark Side (bandit9motors.com) resembles a supine Darth Vader—and the force is strong with the Vietnam-based bike builder’s latest release. Derived from a Harley-Davidson Street 750, the motorcycle relies on the U.S. brand’s 57.6-hp, liquid-cooled V-twin that generates up to 43 ft lbs of torque and is mated to a six-speed manual transmission. Protecting the power train is aircraft-influenced bodywork handcrafted from one piece of stainless steel. Only nine examples of the bike will be built, with each priced at $32,000—a small price to please one’s inner Anakin. —VIJU MATHEW

The new Shinola Canfield collection (shinola.com) of on-, over-, and in-ear headphones marks the luxury-goods manufacturer’s first foray into portable audio. Ranging from $195 for a basic pair of earbuds to $650 for a black, PVD-coated over-ear model, the line is constructed from high-quality materials like top-grain leather, stainless steel, and lambskin-encased memory foam.

To ensure the utmost audio quality, each pair is tested and tuned at Shinola’s factory in Detroit.

writ large Longtime malt master David C. Stewart is truly one of the masters of the scotch universe. Affirming this is the release of his Balvenie DCS Compendium Chapter Three ($60,000, thebalvenie.com), a five-bottle offering of deliciously fragrant whiskies ranging in age from a 13 Year Old to 55 Year Old—the oldest whisky issued by the brand in its 130-year history.

Only 50 sets of Chapter Three were made, but Ty Bar at the Four Seasons Hotel New York has already snapped one up. So, for the first time, those considering purchasing their own edition can sample just one or a full flight of the five whiskies ($5,000). The compendium’s 1973 Vintage ($15,000) will also be available for sale separately at select retailers in Manhattan.

—JANICE O’LEARY

—ALEXANDER LAMASCUS

into the black The glacial pace of recent golf-course openings could be forgiven if the debuts were all as outstanding as Gil Hanse’s new Black Course at Streamsong Resort (streamsongresort.com) in Central Florida. Built on the site of a former phosphorus mine, Black features wide, roomy fairways— helpful for dealing with the locale’s ever-shifting wind—and huge but tricky putting surfaces that total 11 acres by themselves. The tree-filled scenery may remind you of the Midwest, but the 365-day-ayear season means it’s definitely the Sunshine State. —JAMES A. FRANK

pop-up culture

—LARRY BEAN

truffle time

a site to behold

Around the world it’s commonly known that if you’re hunting for truffles, you head to Southern France and Northern Italy. But tucked into the Pacific Northwest, a burgeoning movement of farmers and harvesters is making Oregon’s Willamette Valley the U.S. epicenter for the delicacy. Over two celebratory weekends in January and February, the Oregon Truffle Festival (oregontrufflefestival.org) will bring together cultivators and chefs to host truffle-focused dinners, wine tastings, and even sessions to train your dog to hunt the flavorful fungi.

A new e-commerce platform combines LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s luxury products with over-the-top travel itineraries. Clos19 Exceptional Experiences (clos19.com) grants travelers access to such journeys as a whisky-fueled trip through the Scottish Highlands with Glenmorangie and a weeklong yachting excursion through New Zealand’s Cloudy Bay (shown). The site also features a VIP hub for purchasing some of LVMH’s finest wines and spirits. Highlights include a rare Krug Clos du Mesnil 2002 and a Dom Pérignon Champagne vasque created by the French designer Martin Szekely. —PHOEBE NEUMAN

—JEREMY REPANICH

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TRUFFLES: JOHN VALLS; GOLF: LARRY LAMBRECHT

This winter, the company that offers regularly scheduled West Coast flights aboard 30-seat regional airliners is catering to techies, film buffs, and SoCal skiers. In December, JetSuiteX (jetsuitex.com) resumed its seasonal winter service between Burbank and Mammoth Lakes, providing four round-trip flights every week, starting at $129 each way. For January, the company has scheduled a pair of “pop-up flights”—a special round-trip service to select events. One travels from San Jose to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and the other flies from Burbank to Salt Lake City for the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The CES flight departs January 8 and returns January 12, while the Sundance flight leaves January 19 and returns January 22. The cost of a ticket for either destination starts at $399 each way. Like all JetSuiteX flights, these will use private terminals, so passengers will avoid the lines and other delays associated with public terminals.

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Light up your look in the new year with an imaginative diamond jewel, or two or three Produced in Collaboration with Marion Fasel of TheAdventurine.com

NIRAV MODI Made for a memorable evening out, this cocktail ring is the perfect piece to put on with a printed party dress. It would also be divine with a chic jumpsuit for an elegant weekend brunch. The dazzling design will be all anyone can talk about.

White Luminance Ring with pear, marquise, and round diamonds set in 18K white gold; $24,300 at niravmodi.com; call 800-772-0000.

SHAMBALLA JEWELS Blend this luxurious bohemian beauty with any one of the many frilly, free-spirited couture frocks of the season or simply toss it on with a button-down shirt. It’s as versatile as it is cool.

Braided necklace of diamonds, Akoya and Tahitian pearls, white coral, rainbow and grey moonstones, 18K white gold; $71,425 at shamballajewels.com; call 212-925-2108.

AARON BASHA A talisman loaded with style, the swinging centerpiece adds dynamic movement to this evil eye bracelet. Pair it with designer denim or other sleek pieces in your closet.

18K white gold small open link bracelet with diamond bars, starting at $6,660.

Charms sold separately and starting at $770 each at aaronbasha.com; call 212644-1970.

CHRISTOPHER DESIGNS The horizontal setting of the diamond in this stunner means the piece could be worn as an empowering righthand ring or a jaw-dropping engagement ring. Any way you wear the jewel, it is sure to make a major statement.

East West ring with 1.03-carat L’Amour Crisscut diamond and round diamonds set in 18K white gold; $13,162 at christopherdesigns.com; call 1-800-955-0970.

Curios /Auctions & Fairs

BY ANGELA M. H. SCHUSTER

PAWEL LITWINSKI

“We have one of the most iconic cars in the world and certainly one of the most legendary of Porsches—a 550A Spyder,” says Jakob Greisen, vice president of Bonhams Motoring; only 40 examples of the car rolled off the factory floor. “Even better is the fact that this fantastic car is an ex-works racer that competed to an impressive fifth overall (second in class) at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1958. It is a very original example, with exceptional pedigree, just like you would want for one of these rare, archetypal sports racers.” The 1958 Porsche 550A leads the house’s seventh annual Scottsdale sale on January 18. bonhams.com

Off to the Races $4.5 million– $5.5 million R O B B R E P O R T. C O M

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Auctions & Fairs

Draw

“Parmigianino’s drawings

have been justifiably recognized for their outstanding quality, and the present work is no exception,” says Gregory Rubinstein, head of old-master drawings at Sotheby’s. On this double-sided sheet, studies of Shepherds for an Adoration are rendered on the recto (shown), while Two Putti among Foliage graces the verso. The musical score on the recto, Rubinstein notes, might explain its presence in the collection of Nicholas Lanier, Master of the Musick to Prince Charles, later King Charles I of England. The Parmigianino sheet is among 30 drawings from the Howard and Saretta Barnet Collection that go under the gavel at Sotheby’s on January 31. Other highlights include works by Jean-Antoine Watteau and Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes. sothebys.com

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Owner has had the car for 30 years.

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Curios /Auctions & Fairs

“My business is to paint what I see, not what I know is there.”

J. M . W. T U R N E R

W

W

Head of Medusa Approximately $80,000 “The drawing of the Head of Medusa by the 17th-century Flemish artist Godfried Maes is undoubtedly one of the artist’s very finest drawings,” says London dealer Stephen Ongpin. The rendering must have been intended as a finished work of art in its own right, he says, as it is “signed with something of a flourish” and dated 1680. Ongpin is one of 20 dealers participating in Master Drawings New York, which runs January 27 to February 3 on New York’s Upper East Side. He will be exhibiting at the Dickinson Roundell Gallery. masterdrawingsinnew york.com; www.stephen ongpin.com

The Lake of Lucerne from Brunnen, with a Steamer $800,000–$1.2 million “An exceptional watercolor, [J. M. W.] Turner’s Lake Lucerne is one of a group of studies the artist rendered during the last of his sojourns to the breathtakingly beautiful Swiss resort, which he first visited in 1802,” says Furio Rinaldi, a specialist in the old-master drawings department at Christie’s in New York. “It is the only one from this series remaining in private hands, the rest having been bequeathed to Tate Britain.” Executed in 1841–1842, the watercolor will be tendered by the house in its January 30 sale of old-master drawings in New York. christies.com

W

1921 Alfa Romeo G1 $1 million plus “The 1921 Alfa Romeo G1 is incredibly desirable for its historical value alone,” says Gord Duff, global head of auctions for RM Sotheby’s. “It is an early ple example of the very first Alfa Romeo model ever produced, a car that has never before been offered at auction, and—given this is the only running examp in existence—one that may very well never be offered publicly again.” According to Duff, the 6-cylinder G1 was designed to compete with its American and British luxury contemporaries. However, due to high fuel costs and road taxes at the time, only 52, including two prototypes, were ever built. The G11 (chassis 6018) hits the block during a 2-day sale in Phoenix on January 18 and 19. It is expected to race past $1 million. rmsothebys.com

W

A Golden Cockerel $8,500 A circa-1860 English weathercock, made of hand-beaten and riveted heavy-gauge gilded sheet copper, is just one of the folk-art treasures available from London-based Robert Young Antiques at the 64th edition of the New York Winter Antiques Show. The venerable event, which runs this year from January 19 through 28 at the Park Avenue Armory, boasts a 70-strong roster of exhibitors showcasing an eclectic mix of objects dating from antiquity to the present. winterantiquesshow.com; robertyoungantiques.com

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W

Peaches and Grapes on a Table Draped with a Red Velvet Cloth $150,000–$200,000 “What’s most interesting about the [Naumann] collection is that there is no shortage of beautiful pictures—from fabulous old masters by Denys Calvaert and Giovanni Baglione to stunning 19th-century paintings by Joaquín Sorolla and Antonio Mancini,” says George Wachter, worldwide cochair of Sotheby’s old-master paintings.

The single-owner sale of works from the holdings of the preeminent dealer Otto Naumann, which will be held on January 31, consists of 40 lots, among them thi 17th-century 17th t il on panel a l by b Charlotte Cha l tt Vignon.

Vi Th this oil The collection is expected d to collectively achieve $4 million to $6 million. sothebys.com

W Ceremonial Mask

$95,000 W

Of a type known from the vast pre-Columbian metropolis of Teotihuacan and dated to betweeen AD 250 and 450, this stone ceremonial mask headlines allerist the Mesoamerican offerings from New York ga Spencer Throckmorton at the Winter Antiquess Show.

Maya Other works at the gallery’s stand include a M m engraved shell pendant and a stone hacha from Veracruz. Long associated with the Mesoamerrican ball game, the hacha is carved in the form of a human hese head clad in an armadillo headdress. Both of th Maya works were fashioned between AD 550 and a 900. winterantiquesshow.com; throckmorton-nyc.com

W

A pairr off Yoruba shrine figures from Nigeria made by noted woodcarver Aina Obembe Alaye, Chief Ologunde of Efon-Alaye (who died in 1939), will be offered in a 357-lot sale of art from Africa, the Pacific, and the Americas at Lempertz in Brussels on January 31. lempertz.com

W

W

Inlaid Ormolu Box $165,500 British dealer Thomas Coulborn & Sons is presenting an important pietra dura–mounted ormolu casket at the Winter Antiques Show. Made by Samson Wertheimer sometime between 1856 and 1860, the box includes 16th- and 17th-century elements. The top, says Jonathan Coulborn, is inlaid with a 17th-century Florentine pietra dura panel illustrating a phoenix rising from the flames. The image bears a resemblance to the phoenix panel on the famed Barberini cabinet in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The objet de vertu is one of three pietra dura works being showcased by the gallery. winterantiquesshow.com; coulborn.com

Yoruba Shrine Figures $29,650–$41,500

Poison Ring $42,000 Made circa 1890 by Marcus & Co., this 18-karat-gold 18 k t ld dE Egyptian ti Revival poison ring is surmounted by a lozenge-shaped emerald that is flanked by stylized sphinxes.

The stunning piece is available this month from New York–based Kentshire Galleries at the Winter Antiques Show. winterantiquesshow .com; kentshire.com

Uomini nudi, musculosi, e terribili Price Upon Request Likely executed at the beginning of the 18th century, this work in pen, brown ink, and bister, which has been attributed to the late-baroque Bolognese painter Aureliano Milani, is among the important drawings available from Steven Law and Donald Stroud of Découvert Fine Art from Rockport, Mass. They will be presenting the exhibition The Masculine Observed: Drawing from the 16th to 20th Centuries at Lois Wagner Fine Art during Master Drawings New York. masterdrawingsinnewyork.com; decouvertfineart.com

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Curios /The Collector

TEXT

PHOTOGRAPHY

ANGELA M.H. SCHUSTER

KRISTINE LARSEN

“I love when experts come here and go through my collection, as I often wind up with a whole new collection.”

—CHARLES HACK

Upon entering the Sutton

Place abode of real estate investor Charles Hack, one is thrust inside a personal Kunstkammer—a home that doubles as a cabinet of curiosities, striking in both the quality and quantity of works on view. Within a capacious foyer are furnishings by Austrian architect Josef Hoffmann, secessionist pieces by Franz von Stuck and Koloman Moser, and paintings by Belgian Symbolists Fernand Khnopff and Léon Spilliaert.

The living room is amply appointed with Renaissance bronzes, including a fanciful—if not altogether preposterous—aeolipile in the form of a pelican, its body adorned with a trio of pagan faces. Likely made as a presentation piece for Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, the 17th-century bronze vessel could produce a spectacular display of spewing steam as water within it came to a boil when warmed by the flames of a wood-burning fire. Atop a grand piano is a stack of recently purchased prints that Hack has yet to catalog. Many are by Félix Buhot, including a suite of six Parisian cityscapes from the 1870s that are nearly identical in composition yet different in atmosphere and tonality, each representing a different state in the printmaking process.

All that is on display attests an inquisitive mind and an exacting eye. Yet it is what one doesn’t readily see in this sun-drenched apartment overlooking the East River that is perhaps of greatest interest: an important collection of old-master drawings.

Hack’s holdings are rich in 17th-century Dutch and Flemish works by such notables as Cornelis van Haarlem, Abraham Bloemaert, Hendrick Goltzius, and Peter Paul Rubens.

Charles Hack with two drawings by Jacques de Gheyn II from his series Exercise of Arms (1608).

E

Félix Buhot’s original drawing for his engraving Une matinée d’hiver au Quai de l’Hôtel-Dieu (circa 1876), along with prints representing three of five states of its printing.

E

Abraham Bloemaert’s Annunciation of the Shepherds (circa 1605), purchased at Christie’s Amsterdam in November 1992.

came up, which I bought as a bit of a consolation prize. I happen to be on the visiting committee of the prints and drawings department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and after that sale, I was chatting with one of their curators, bemoaning my loss.

He replied with a smug look on his face, ‘We bought that one.’ It turns out I had been bidding against the Met. So now I regularly go and see ‘my drawing’ without having paid the $100,000. I think I see it more often than some of my own drawings.”

Within his study are still more bespoke cabinets, which open to reveal shelves chock-full of solander boxes, each containing still more drawings and prints.

Of particular interest is an extraordinary oil sketch by Rubens, executed around 1634–35. “For me,” says Hack, “Rubens’s sketches are so much more immediate than his paintings, showing what the artist really does when he is not overworking his subjects.”

At Master Drawings New York, which runs January 27 through February 3, we have little doubt Hack will discover important works to expand and complement his holdings.

E

Abraham Bloemaert’s Cephalus and Procris (circa 1620), acquired from a private dealer in 1995.

E

E

But as collectors know, sunlight and drawings do not good bedfellows make.

To accommodate his cache, Hack commissioned a polished wood cabinet that contains double-sided vertical panels, which slide out and pivot so that lightsensitive works can be viewed and enjoyed.

While many of the works are signed, others are not, leading to spirited speculation about their authorship.

“I bought this portrait as a [Lucas] Kilian,” says Hack of a diminutive drawing, “but I think it is too good to be by Kilian. It may be by Crispin de Passe. I love when experts come here and go through my collection, as I often wind up with a whole new collection.”

“This has an interesting story,” says Hack of the first old-master drawing to enter his collection—the Annunciation of the Shepherds, a mannerist work

by Bloemaert (circa 1605).

“In November 1992, I was in Amsterdam for a sale at Christie’s. I was interested in acquiring Goltzius’s Fall of Phaeton (circa 1588), which bidders quickly chased to a seemingly astronomical sum—about $100,000, if I remember. So I passed on it. And then the Bloemaert

An oil sketch by Peter Paul Rubens, executed around 1634–35.

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Curios /Books & Manuscripts W

Empirical Knowledge $550,000 “An extraordinarily rare cartographic document, Complete Geographical Map of the Everlasting Unified Qing Empire is based on research originally presented to the Qianlong emperor by Huang Qianren in 1767,” says London raremap dealer Daniel Crouch.

The large woodcut map from 1811 was printed in 16 sections on eight sheets of paper, each of which was originally mounted on a scroll. The title of the map, he explains, is as much a political program of the Qing as it is a geographical record. “It shows China in grand scale at the height of the Qing empire, with foreign nations and trading partners marginalized and miniaturized at the edges of its realm.” crouchrarebooks.com

“I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.”

—J O H A N N E S K E P L E R London-based Sokol Rare Books will offer a first edition of German astronomer Johannes Kepler’s essays at the Antiquarian Book Fair in Stuttgart (stuttgarter -antiquariatsmesse.de). In the text, Kepler describes a supernova that appeared at the foot of the constellation Ophiuchus in 1604. The work was published in Prague and Frankfurt by Pavel Sessius and Wolfgang Richter in 1606. The fair runs January 26 to 28 at the Württembergischen Kunstverein. sokol.co.uk

At the Antiquarian Book Fair in Stuttgart, Reiss & Sohn of Königstein im Taunus, Germany, will present a first edition of Pietro Andrea Mattioli’s New Kreüterbuch (New herbal book). Published

by Vincenzo Valgrisi in Venice in 1563, it is richly and colorfully illustrated with woodcuts by Giorgio Liberale and Wolfgang Meyerpeck. A renowned physician and botanist, Mattioli counted among his patients the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II. reiss-sohn.de

Golden Touch $21,150

W

Persian-born scholar ӑ,]] DG 'ƯQ DO öDOGDNƯ “was one of the greatest of medieval alchemists,” says Bologna, Italy–based dealer Giuseppe Solmi, who is bringing al-Ğaldakī’s Mamluk-era book on the cultivation of gold and other metals to the Antiquarian Book Fair in Stuttgart this month. Dated AH 900 (1494–95), the 167-leaf alchemical treatise was likely penned in Egypt, where DO ЁDOGDNƯ eventually settled. giuseppesolmi.it

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$92,800

A Green Thumb $35,400

W Star Tract

In the Virunga Mountains and beyond, upscale lodges are fueling

DAVID CROOKES

Rwanda’s rise as Africa’s unlikeliest new safari star.

BY JACKIE CARADONIO R O B B R E P O R T. C O M

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High in the Green Hills

The valley looks like it’s spun from

RAISE THE ROOF Bisate’s thatched villas are burrowed along a verdant hill in the shadows of Mount Bisoke.

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DAVID CROOKES

gold. Lush from the season’s rains, the vibrant expanse shimmers in the afternoon sunlight, a secret garden guarded by the majestic Mount Bisoke to the west and tumbling hills to the north. Climbing the emerald peak to the east, though, is the set of unbearably steep stone steps on which I currently find myself standing— and panting. Perhaps it’s the altitude, or all of that unfiltered golden light, that has me gulping for air.

“Every single stone on these steps was carried up by human hands,” says Ingrid Baas, the manager of Rwanda’s new Bisate Lodge, as she guides me up, up, and up farther still. I nod and give a tight-lipped smile in response—a fatigued gesture that I hope communicates a combination of “wow” and “tell me more.” “Men were carrying hundreds of pounds on their backs up this hill. The physical effort was unbelievable.” I answer with a silent, humble nod and wonder how much farther we have to go.

At last we arrive at the main lodge— and what an arrival it is. The fruits of 9 months of human labor are clear: Bisate is unlike any safari camp I’ve ever seen. The dome-like space bears little resemblance to the traditional tented lodges common throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Gone are the canvas chairs and vintage trunks. In their place are modern low-slung chairs covered in fur throws, sparkling chartreuse chandeliers composed of thousands of tiny bits of glass, and sweeping billowy curves everywhere. One look at the views from the terrace—a panorama over the valley and the mountains and those terraced hills—and I’m breathless all over again.

Indeed, Bisate is worth the effort, both to get there and to build. The six-room lodge is the result of nearly a decade of research and planning by the Botswanabased safari outfitter Wilderness. Set on the edge of Volcanoes National Park—where Dian Fossey famously carried out her research of the region’s primates—the camp is an aesthetic masterpiece as well as a magnum opus of sorts for Wilderness. “I’ve never walked away from a project feeling so rewarded,” says the company’s CEO, Keith Vincent. “Every part of it has blown me away, from the efforts the local population put into making it happen to the sense of pride it has brought to the surrounding villages.” That the hillside camp was constructed almost entirely by human power is nothing short of a miracle.

Spend a bit of time in Rwanda and you’ll find that almost nothing comes easy for travelers here—but it’s always worth the effort in the end. I arrived in the capital of Kigali two days earlier to discover a modern metropolis booming with progress. Hardly the mere pre-safari pit stop I

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With Gasana at the wheel, we set

ROYAL RETREAT The basket-like guest rooms are modern interpretations of the old king’s palace of Nyanza, once the seat of the Rwandan monarchy.

out on the 3-hour drive from Kigali. It’s only a matter of minutes before the city streets give way to winding mountain roads, and as we weave past sloping fields lined row after row with Irish potatoes and wide expanses of wispy golden wheat, rural Rwanda comes alive. Gasana, who lost his mother in the genocide, tells me that the mud farmhouses to our right remind him of his youth, when he’d visit his grandmother in the countryside.

Two hours later, Bisate comes into view, its woven structures sprouting from the hillside like giant birds’ nests wedged into a mound of ferns. Baas is waiting to show me up the steep stone steps to my room, which turns out to be a fantastical

JACKIE CARADONIO

had envisioned, the city is a testament to the strides this country has made in the quarter-century since a tragic genocide tore it apart. The atrocity—a 100-day slaughter that ended with nearly 1 million dead at the hands of their own neighbors, friends, and families—is still clear in the memory of every Rwandan above a certain age. And yet a collective optimism about the country’s future clearly prevails.

“The president has given us a new hope,” says my driver, Emmanuel Gasana, as we zip past the cutting-edge Kigali Convention Centre, an all-glass orb-like structure that was completed in 2016. “He’s making sure everyone gets an education, and creating jobs for people who have never worked before. And he’s bringing investors into the country to create new opportunities and wealth.”

Rwanda is still a work in progress— for instance, last August’s reelection of President Paul Kagame with 99 percent of the vote raised questions of political oppression—but recent improvements are readily apparent. We pass a pristine shopping center and an ultramodern hotel wrapped in colorful ribbons of metal before turning a corner flanked by billboards showing a pair of shimmering residential towers. A new airport, the dramatic cantilevering Kigali Art & Culture Centre, and Norman Foster’s first-of-its-kind “droneport” (a hub for cargo delivered via drone) are also in the works.

Kagame is leading his country into an unprecedented tourism boom, too. The Virunga Mountains have long held allure for travelers, offering the rare opportunity to see the same endangered mountain gorillas and other primates that Fossey studied during the 1960s and ’70s. But the Rwandan government has a broader ambition, one that will lure travelers beyond the Virungas. “There’s so much more to Rwanda than simply cherry-picking the gorilla-tracking experience,” Vincent says.

“The long-term goal is to open up new destinations, too.”

To that end, Wilderness is planning to open its second Rwandan camp in the northeastern Akagera National Park, which offers the country’s only Big Five safari experience. In the southwestern Nyungwe Forest National Park—home to chimpanzees and monkeys—the luxury-resort brand One&Only opened a lodge last year.

Luxury travelers are clearly a focus for Rwanda, particularly in the Virungas, where the government recently doubled the price of gorilla-tracking permits to ensure a more exclusive experience than that of neighboring Uganda. In addition to Wilderness’s Bisate, visitors to the region will soon be able to choose from lodges by both One&Only—which is scheduled to unveil its reinvention of the historic Gorilla’s Nest later this year—and Singita.

For now, however, the talk of Rwanda is Wilderness’s rarefied new retreat in the heart of the Virungas.

High in the Green Hills

cross between an enormous woven basket and a geodesic dome. Designed by Garreth Kriel of the South African firm Nicholas Plewman Architects, the thatched villa is a reinterpretation of the old king’s palace of Nyanza, once the seat of the Rwandan monarchy. But this modern version brims with chic details: In the bathroom, the deep-soaking tub looks as if it were carved from slick onyx. Above it, an elegant chandelier is composed of tiny strips of leather.

In the bedroom, colorful patterns covering the wingback chairs and pillows are contemporized versions of traditional kitenge fabrics. And the bed is the most comfortable I’ve slept in since arriving in Rwanda.

At over 8,500 feet, I’m naturally a little bit lightheaded, but the views from my private terrace are downright dizzying.

I step out into the sun to find a pair of black-and-white rattan chairs that have been positioned in such a way that when I sit down, I find myself quite nearly face to saw-toothed face with Mount Bisoke. The floating effect is utterly magical. You don’t go on safari to spend all of your time in your room, but my, is it tempting.

“Mmmmmm,”

Patrick Magirirane growls. “Muhhh-mmmmm.” Our group of eight trekkers is clinging to the side of Mount Karisimbi, catching our breath, and getting a crash course in gorilla-speak from

our guide. Of the 20-plus vocalizations used by gorillas, the one Magirirane has just taught us roughly translates to “Hello. We come in peace.”

It is 10:30 am and we’ve been ascending this trail-less incline for more than an hour.

The air is getting thinner and thinner—or maybe it’s the careful work of treading through an indecipherable grid of bamboo that has me feeling dazed. Everywhere, mossy reeds shoot this way and that; it’s like wading through a giant game of pick-up sticks. At the front of our group a trio of gorilla trackers slashes at the maze with their machetes, and we inch forward, with

IN OUR MIDST New lodges, along with an increase in permit fees, are ensuring a more exclusive gorillatracking experience in Rwanda.

nettles latching onto our pant legs and tangles of lianas grabbing at our ankles as if trying to hold us back.

When we reach a muddy depression bridged by a fallen tree trunk, my porter—a sturdy woman named Pauline whom I hired only to carry my backpack filled with cameras and lenses—reaches for my hand.

I timidly take it and allow her to hoist me over the impasse. Minutes later she reaches for me again, this time to help me navigate a slippery crevasse. A few minutes after that, I hit my head on a low tree branch. I swallow my pride, reach for Pauline’s hand, and decide not to let go until we reach less hazardous terrain.

Then, suddenly, we’ve arrived. Just beyond the thicket of bamboo ahead, Magirirane tells us, is Pablo’s group, one of the gorilla families Fossey habituated during her 18 years among these mountains.

One by one we cross the threshold, emerging from the dark forest into a brilliant sloping meadow. And there, lounging in the midmorning sun like a Bacchus feasting on grapes, is Gicurasi, the group’s massive silverback of 400-plus pounds, munching on wild celery.

Anyone who has encountered gorillas in the wild will emphatically remind you that we share 98 percent of our DNA with the black-furred beasts. This fact carries significantly more weight when you’re actually

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Bisate Lodge, wilderness-safaris.com; available through Alluring Africa, alluringafrica.com

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DESIGN FORWARD Bisate’s innovative style is apparent at every turn, from the glittering chandeliers composed of recycled bottles to the curving ribs that form the dramatic dome-like main lodge.

TOP LEFT: JACKIE CARADONIO; RIGHT: DAVID CROOKES

standing in front of a silverback. Gicurasi’s nimble fingers—and his fingernails—look so human, I can’t help but glance down at my own for the sake of comparison. When he finishes his snack, he rolls over onto his stomach and rests his chin in his hands, as if posing for a pin-up calendar. And when a rowdy adolescent tumbles past, plucking a shoot of celery for himself, Gicurasi slowly lumbers away, every bit the grumpy dad in search of just one moment of peace.

For their part, the gorillas meet our awe with impassive disinterest. As we navigate the meadow around them, gracelessly tripping over the knotted vines that cover the ground, they go about their business utterly unmoved. We coo over a 3-week-old baby, laughing at the wild mess of hair atop his head. We chuckle when a blackback—the group’s second eldest male—groggily stumbles out of the brush like a hungover frat boy. And we gasp when a rowdy juvenile cartwheels into the middle of the clearing, nearly knocking over one of his human intruders. Meanwhile, they doze in and out of sleep, pick gnats off each other, and occasionally glance in our direction and let out a halfhearted mmmmm.

All too soon, our time with Pablo’s group comes to an end, and Magirirane leads us back into the forest where Pauline waits with my backpack. The long trek back down Karisimbi is still ahead. The stabbing nettles and the trenches of mud and the mess of bamboo are all waiting to be navigated once again. But however arduous the journey home, the effort will be worth it.

High in the Green Hills

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U · K

KUI‘U

LA PRESEN

b

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·

guide You were still unpacking when your girls found their way to Robert at Huaka‘i Outfitters.

The next thing you knew, the sea spray was drenching your skin as Kukui‘ula’s 32-foot Mahealani sped out of the harbor while Robert talked story about growing up on Kaua’i.

The story continues at kukuiula.com/theguide

Idyllic setting. Epic days. Indelible memories. There is a place for discerning families who seek to balance luxury with the laid-back lifestyle and awe inspiring beauty of our island home. Welcome to Kukui‘ula on the South Shore of Kaua‘i. Homes and homesites in a breathtaking setting, surrounded by an abundance of resort amenities and unforgettable outdoor adventures. Plan your visit at kukuiula.com/visit or call 1-800-518-4363.

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Warning: CA Dept. of Real Estate has not inspected, examined or qualified this offering. Fees, memberships and restrictions may apply for certain amenities. Details available. Price and availability subject to change. ©December 2017. Kukui‘ula Development Company (Hawaii), LLC. All rights reserved.

THE PLACES TO BE IN 2018

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the miracle of

N A PA VA L L E Y It may sound foolish to call Napa Valley lucky. The revered wine country seemed anything but in October, when wildfires ravaged more than 200,000 acres in Northern California, claiming thousands of homes and dozens of lives. But when the flames were finally doused and the smoke at last cleared, the valley floor, as if by some divine intervention, remained virtually untouched.

Though surrounded by seared slopes and scorched trees, Napa itself—along with its scenic vineyards and glamorous resorts— appeared, however implausibly, as picturesque as ever.

Luck aside, Napa Valley has the resilience of its dedicated citizens and first responders to thank for its good fortune. A passionate committee of leaders, vintners, and luminaries, including everyone from

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chef Thomas Keller to designer Ken Fulk, banded together to support the people and places affected by the fires. Now the illustrious valley has but one message for the world: We’re back—and with a host of new reasons to visit.

On the culinary front, the talk of the valley is, not surprisingly, Thomas Keller, whose Michelin three-star French Laundry (frenchlaundry.com) recently debuted a sleek revamp by the Oslo-based architecture firm Snøhetta. But there are plenty of new arrivals demanding attention too, from Christopher Kostow’s elevated-casual Charter Oak (thecharteroak.com) to Chris Cosentino’s refined Acacia House (lasalcobasnapavalley.com). Adding to the momentum is Harlan, whose elegant new Promontory (promontory.wine) is the

SPOILS OF THE VINE Napa Valley’s newest developments include the 68-room Las Alcobas Napa Valley (right) and the forthcoming Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences Napa Valley (far right).

revered wine-making family’s first endeavor to offer public tastings.

Hot hotel happenings are in abundance as well. Las Alcobas Napa Valley, a Luxury Collection Hotel (lasalcobasnapa valley.com), is the brightest new spot in the valley, with 68 spacious oak-filled guest rooms and suites (all with private terraces).

Yountville’s Vintage House (vintagehouse .com) is basking in the glow of a recent renovation that brings a French-country-house vibe to its 80 bungalow-style rooms. The notable debuts will continue into this year, with Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences Napa Valley (napaluxury living.com) unveiling 20 homes—and eventually a neighboring hotel—among the vineyards of Calistoga’s Silverado Trail.

—Natasha Wolff

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VINEYARD: COSMO CONDINA /GET T Y IMAGES; BEDROOM: JASON DEWEY

21 Places to Be in 2018

the

Basel bu

the first host of Art Basel Cities (artbasel .com), a new global initiative from the giants behind the world’s biggest art fairs that will spotlight the Argentinean capital’s local arts scenes.

The multiyear partnership kicked off in November with the launch of the Art Basel Cities House, a venue set among the galleries and cafés of the chic Retiro district that will host events and workshops throughout 2018. The art cognoscenti are already marking their calendars for September, when Art Basel Cities will host a weeklong program directed by curator Cecilia Alemani of High Line Art in New York. The event will highlight more than 80 galleries across Buenos Aires, as well as emerging art and design districts like La Boca and Barracas.

Adding to the events are expansion projects throughout the city, the largest of which is a $200 million port improvement that aims to turn Buenos Aires into South America’s premier cruising hub. Next door, Puerto Madero is gentrifying with the Alvear Icon (alvearicon.com), a slick new hotel created by the owners of the city’s grande dame, Alvear Palace. And in Barrio Norte, the new 113-room MGallery by Sofitel (accorhotels.com) is opening this summer between two 18th-century structures, embodying the city’s heady mix of old and new. —Nor a Walsh

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Something big has been brewing above Lake Lucerne. Nine years and more than $500 million in the making, Bürgenstock Resort (buergenstock.ch)—the historic Swiss hideaway that once lured the likes of Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn— has been reborn as a sprawling lakefront complex unlike anything Europe has ever seen. This spring, a grand event will celebrate the full-scale opening of the 148acre project, which comprises four hotels, 12 restaurants and bars, a nine-hole golf course, private residences, and a state-ofthe-art wellness center.

Among the options at Bürgenstock are the 19th-century Palace Hotel, which has been restored and renovated to its former glory; the gleaming Bürgenstock Hotel, whose 102 contemporary rooms and suites are dressed in Arana marble and American walnut; and the just-opened Waldhotel, which features one of Switzerland’s most comprehensive medical spas, with wide-ranging programs that span from preventive medicine to post-op recovery.

For active types, Bürgenstock also offers championship tennis courts, a curling rink, seven helipads, a private lido, and 43 miles of hiking and biking trails.

—Sandr a R amani

a Swiss renaissance on

LAKE LUCER NE

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unsinkable in

NEW WAVE St. Barts’s post-hurricane recovery is coming with plenty of fanfare, from new hotels to upgrades at long-established resorts like Hotel Le Toiny (below).

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St. Barts was shaping up to have a landmark 2017. New hotels were opening up left and right, giving long-established favorites like Eden Rock (oetkercollection.com) and Isle de France (chevalblanc.com) some friendly competition. The St. Barth Gourmet Festival was preparing for another impressive year, with an all-star chef lineup that would be presided over by Paris’s Eric Frechon. And next-generation restaurants like Guy Martin’s Aux Amis and Saint-Tropez offshoot Shellona (shellonabeach.com) were breathing new life into the island’s culinary scene. Then Irma happened. The Category 5 hurricane

made landfall on the French Caribbean isle last September, wreaking havoc on its most beloved haunts and hideaways.

But St. Barts is banking on a victorious comeback in 2018. With most shops and restaurants already open for business and many of the top villa rentals currently taking reservations, the island’s glitzy nautical events—including March’s Bucket Regatta (bucketregatta.com) and April’s Les Voiles de Saint Barth (lesvoilesdesaintbarth .com)—will go on as planned. Colombier newcomer Villa Marie Saint-Barth (saint -barth.villamarie.fr) and Hotel Christoper St. Barth (hotelchristopher.com) will reopen their doors in time for both events.

More progress will come this summer, when Grand Cul-de-Sac’s Le Guanahani (leguanahani.com) will unveil an upgraded look. The biggest openings, however, will come at the end of the year, when Hotel Le Toiny (letoiny.com) relaunches with eight new villas (each with its own private pool) and the hilltop Hôtel Barrière Le Carl Gustaf (hotelsbarriere.com) makes its highly anticipated debut with an outpost of France’s Le Fouquet’s restaurant and a Biologique Recherche spa. In true St. Barts style, every opening is sure to be a fashionable fête. —Jackie caradonio

TOP: COMITÉ DU TOURISME DE SAINT BARTHÉLEMY

S T. B A R T S

Savor the experience at www.ponant.com

Contact your travel advisor or call

888 400 1082

21 Places to Be in 2018

ICE, ICE, BABY New Antarctic explorations by sea and sky include Silversea’s new Silver Cloud Expedition (below).

Don’t fear the Drake Passage. The notorious stretch of sea that lies between the tip of South America and Antarctica is as legendary as it is mercurial—treacherous one day, smooth as glass the next—but a necessary evil for those who wish to see the Southern Continent. This year, however, new ships are taking travelers across the Drake in so much style, a little tussle with the waves might just go unnoticed.

Taking Antarctic adventures to new heights—and depths—is the 200-passenger Scenic Eclipse (scenicusa.com), which will debut in August with two helicopters, a seven-passenger submarine, and 12 custom Zodiacs for polar exploration, as well as onboard luxuries like a spa, an indoor swimming pool, and butler service.

Meanwhile, Silversea’s new Silver Cloud Expedition (silversea.com) is making waves of its own with a 1-to-1 crew-to-passenger ratio and a Relais & Châteaux restaurant.

Also launching this year are French cruise line Ponant’s first two ice-class Explorers ships, Le Champlain and Le Laperouse (ponant.com), both of which will feature underwater lounges that immerse passengers in the views—and sounds—of the surrounding waters.

For those who wish to bypass the Drake altogether, a pair of new private-jet journeys is bringing travelers to the seventh continent by way of the sky. Naya Traveler’s (nayatraveler.com) high-flying adventure takes guests on an 8-day itinerary that includes stops in the South Pole and the emperor-penguin-filled Atka Bay, and overnight accommodations in luxe igloos. And for a quickie touchdown amid the White Desert, book Natural World Safaris’ (natu ralworldsafaris.com) One Day Antarctica Adventure charter, which jets travelers in for 8 hours of exploration among the continent’s epic landscapes. —J.C.

rocking the boat in

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The American Safari

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Pack your bags and head into the wilderness—knowing you’ll be met with the luxuries of a fivestar hotel. We defined glamping, and we still set the standard. With more than 37,000 acres to explore, including pristine mountain trails and the legendary Blackfoot River, every type of adventure awaits. Find yours at Montana’s premier luxury ranch resort, The Resort at Paws Up®.

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HIGH TEMPLES This year, designer Bill Bensley will debut Shinta Mani Wild (top) in Cardamom National Park and Shinta Mani Angkor (bottom) in Siem Reap.

C A M BODI A

No visit to Cambodia would be complete without a trip to Angkor Wat, but this year you’ll want to venture farther into the country than ever before, from its remote rain forests to its isolated islands. The Koh Rong archipelago has earned its Cambodian Riviera nickname for its recent influx of luxury beach resorts, the newest of which are the Six Senses Krabey Island (sixsenses .com)—a 40-villa retreat set to debut in August on a 30-acre private isle—and Alila Villas Koh Russey (alilahotels.com), opening later this year with 50 pavilions and 13 private residences. On the mainland, Cardamom National Park will be the rain-forest home of hospitality designer extraordinaire Bill Bensley’s Shinta Mani Wild (shinta mani.com), an ambitious and utterly over-the-top safari-style camp with 16 tents implausibly perched over a mile-long stretch of river and waterfalls. There’s news in the cities, too: Rosewood Phnom Penh (rosewoodhotels.com) will debut early this year in a glistening tower above the Mekong River, and for a luxurious option on your Angkor Wat stop, Bensley’s new Shinta Mani Angkor (shintamani.com) features 10 villas, each with its own private pool and garden. —Laurie Werner

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6: KRISTINA ADITHYA PRAJOGO; 7: CHRISTIAN HORAN; 8: JACKIE CARADONIO

from river to rain forest

7

The Big Easy is turning 300 this year, and it’s celebrating in appropriately big style. The Southern Creole city—which was founded in 1718 by the French-Canadian explorer Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville—will honor its Tricentennial (2018nola.com) with a year’s worth of events, openings, and citywide improvements, from a much-needed makeover of Bourbon Street and a $100 million riverfront revitalization to the debut of the Sazerac House, a museum devoted entirely to the locally revered cocktail.

Celebrate by checking into the recently reopened Pontchartrain Hotel (thepont chartrainhotel.com), the Garden District’s circa-1927 grande dame that has been

reborn as an elegant blend of old NOLA and new luxury with restored Charles Reinike murals and antique furnishings. The local culinary scene is heating up, too, with Top Chef Nina Compton’s Caribbean-eclectic Compère Lapin (comperelapin.com) and James Beard Award finalist Isaac Toups’s Cajun-fusion Toups South (toupssouth .com) leading a smart revival in elevated dining. And keeping the tricentennial party going well into the future are two major developments: The Louis Armstrong International Airport’s $917 million César Pelli–designed terminal and, across town, a Four Seasons hotel and residences that will revitalize the city’s former World Trade Center complex. —Jimmy Im

EASY DOES IT New Orleans’s Pontchartrain Hotel is a historic home base for the city’s tricentennial celebrations.

three centuries in

NEW OR LE A NS

8

R WA N DA’ S safari surge Until recently, Rwanda wasn’t on many mustsee safari lists. But this year, the beautiful country with a heartbreaking past is bursting onto the African travel scene with a trio of new luxury lodges—the first of which is Wilderness’s innovative Bisate Lodge (wilderness-safaris .com)—and a fresh approach to the safari experience. Read more in “High in the Green Hills” on page 92. —J.C.

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This year, Mexico City becomes the first destination in the Americas to be named the World Design Capital (wdccdmx2018 .com). The honor is not to be taken lightly: The yearlong event will not only draw world-class exhibitions and innovators, but will also cement the Mexican capital’s standing as a mecca for the arts.

The 2018 program will focus on socially responsible design, with an emphasis on creating more livable, international cities.

Utterly international—if not always livable— Mexico City has given the design faithful plenty to hold dear in the last few years, with contemporary museums like the avantgarde Museo Jumex (fundacionjumex.org) and fairs like Zona Maco (zsonamaco.com) adding to the long-revered local scene established by such institutions as Casa Luis Barragán and Casa Azul. Design is also part of the package at hotels like Las Alcobas Mexico City (lasalcobas.com)—a Yabu Pushelberg creation that will debut a host of renovations later this year—and Hotel Habita (hotelhabita.com), a sleek boutique in upscale Polanco. Even the culinary scene comes with a touch of the inventive, whether it’s “living mole” at Enrique Olvera’s recent revival of Pujol (pujol.com.mx) or mezcal cocktails topped with ants at Fifty Mils (fiftymils.com), the new speakeasy-style bar at the Four Seasons Hotel Mexico City. —Natasha wolff

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21 Places Top 21 to Destinations Be in 2018

going for gold in

SOUTH KOR E A HEAVY MEDAL

OPPOSITE: EVAN DION; THIS PAGE, TOP: JEON HEON-KYUN/EPA-EFE /REX /SHUT TERSTOCK

The XXIII Olympic Winter Games will be held in the South Korean ski town of Pyeongchang this February.

URBAN OASIS The new Amanyangyun resort will bring tradition and nature to frenetic Shanghai.

10

South Korea may not be the Korea on your mind these days—but it should be.

Next month, the country will claim the world spotlight as the host of the 23rd Olympic Winter Games (olympic.org).

In preparation, the sleepy northern ski town of Pyeongchang has reinvented itself, spending $10 billion on futuristic new sporting venues and sleek hotels, including the 238-room InterContinental Alpensia Pyeongchang Resort (ihg.com) and the nearby Richard Meier–designed Seamarq (seamarqhotel.com). A new high-speed

rail line linking the mountain retreat to the capital city of Seoul in less than an hour is also making it easy to access the games with a side of après-culture. But the reasons to visit South Korea won’t end with the last medal ceremony: This year also marks the debut of Jeju Shinhwa World (shinhwaworld.com), an expansive resort development on idyllic Jeju Island that will eventually be home to luxury residences, entertainment venues, and a new Four Seasons resort.

—Leslie Patrick Moore

11 SH A NGH A I shows off (again)

Is there ever a quiet moment in Shanghai?

China’s fabulously frenetic metropolis seems to be in a perpetual state of advancement, and this year it’s firing on all cylinders. From the leafy boulevards of the French Concession to the towering skyscrapers of Pudong, it seems every corner of this captivating city has something new for travelers. Read more in “Time Well Spent” on page 161. —L.W.

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21 Places to Be in 2018

ICEL A N D

from city to springs

12 You may know Iceland best for its volcanoes, glaciers, and geysers, but this year the country is cultivating a more cosmopolitan side. No longer a mere pit stop en route to the sky-dancing Northern Lights or brooding ice caves, Reykjavík is becoming an attraction in its own right.

Visitors to the Icelandic capital can choose from sleek new properties including the Sandhotel (sandhotel.is)—a 52-room boutique with an eclectic style that fits somewhere between Scandinavian cool, Danish hygge, and Art Deco chic—and the exclusive Tower Suites (towersuites .is), a collection of eight high-design accommodations decorated with furnishings by Tom Dixon, Fritz Hansen, and Moooi. Later this year, the Reykjavik Edition (editionhotels.com) will debut, claiming a coveted location next to the sparkling glass Harpa Concert Hall.

A craft-cocktail scene has also taken hold in Reykjavík, with establishments like Apotek (apotekrestaurant.is) and Loftið leading a spirited revolution. And come spring, the forefather of New Nordic cuisine, René Redzepi, will open a pop-up of his legendary Noma in the city.

Of course, Iceland remains first and foremost the Land of Ice and Fire, and new offerings among the country’s many natural wonders are elevating the great outdoors as well. Set to open in April, the Retreat at Blue Lagoon Iceland (retreat .bluelagoon.com) will bring an upscale experience to the well-known geothermal hot springs of Grindavík, with 62 modern suites and a subterranean spa. Most intriguing of all is the exclusive-use Eldar Lodge, a hidden-away gem nestled among the geysers of south Iceland, featuring six suites, a private chef, a wine cellar, a helipad, and two geothermal baths.

—Shoba Nar ayan

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TORONTO Canada was the talk of the travel scene last year, when the country honored its 150th anniversary with 365 days of celebrations from coast to coast. But in Toronto, the party is just getting started. This spring, the Ontario capital’s well-established cultural scene will expand anew with the opening of the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada (museumofcontem poraryart.ca), a 55,000-square-foot institution set within a long-abandoned industrial building in the burgeoning Junction Triangle. Phase one of the city’s ambitious Bentway (thebentway.ca)—an urban-park

project combining art and exhibition space across seven neighborhoods—is also slated for completion this year. And come September, when T-Dot is flooded with celebs and cinephiles for the annual Toronto International Film Festival (tiff.net), three new hotels will be open for business: the 44-story Bisha Hotel (bishahoteltoronto .com), with its glamorous design and rooftop pool; the sprawling Hotel X (hotelxtoronto .com), an “urban resort” leading downtown’s lakefront expansion; and the Kimpton Hotel Toronto (kimptonhotels.com), set in the heart of upscale Yorkville. —J.C.

DANIELLE PET TI

NORTH STAR Ontario’s cosmopolitan capital will welcome new hotels, parks, and cultural institutions this year.

an encore for

You can find a two-story home anywhere.

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Enchanting family moments are part of everyday life at Golden Oak at Walt DisneyWorld Resort.

Right now, you can live in this luxurious private community with legendary Disney service featuring custom homes from $2 million. Welcome home to where the magic is endless.

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21 Places to Be in 2018

H A MBURG hits a high note

Munich—Hamburg is the German city to see in 2018. For evidence that this northern port city is on the rise, look no further than the Elbphilharmonie (elbphilharmonie .de), the striking Herzog & de Meuron– designed concert hall that opened last year on the Elbe River. After countless delays and controversial budget increases, the sail-shaped venue is finally making good on its promise to put Hamburg on Europe’s modern cultural map, presenting dozens of sold-out performances in the months since it opened.

But the Elphi, as locals refer to it, isn’t

Hamburg’s only modern marvel. The late Zaha Hadid designed the city’s newly completed River Promenade, a rippling walkway that winds along the Elbe, connecting many of the city’s restaurants, shops, and cultural attractions. Just north along the sparkling Alster Lake, the Fontenay Hamburg (thefontenay.de)—scheduled to open this month—is being heralded as Germany’s most anticipated hotel debut in

HALL OF FAME The Elbphilharmonie concert hall has helped catapult Hamburg into Europe’s cultural spotlight.

VA L L E T T A ’ S cultural awakening

Though it looks more like a Game of Thrones setting than a modern cultural hub, Valletta is Europe’s of-the-moment destination for 2018. The Maltese capital— whose winding 16th-century streets have indeed served as the backdrop for several of the HBO series’s scenes—has been named the European Capital of Culture 2018 (valletta2018.org). The smallest city

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recent memory, for both its spellbinding architecture and its top-notch amenities, including a 10,760-square-foot La Mer spa and a restaurant by the Michelin-starred chef Cornelius Speinle. Also new to the hotel scene, the Sir Nikolai (sirhotels.com) opened in June, bringing a stylish vibe of its own—think bohemian chandeliers and Art Deco bar carts—to one of the city’s oldest canals. —Chadner Navarro

yet to earn the distinction, Valletta is no doubt deserving: The UNESCO World Heritage site is a seamless combination of old and new, its baroque churches and Renaissance piazzas balanced by modern masterpieces like Renzo Piano’s Valletta City Gate and the soon-to-open MUŻA museum (muza.heritagemalta.org).

The city, along with select locations throughout Malta, will host more than 140 projects and 400 events over the next 12 months, including February’s Carnival, April’s Design and Technology Expo, and June’s Valletta Film Festival and Malta International Arts Festival.

Making way for the influx of visitors this year are a number of new high-design hotels, the most impressive of which is the historic Phoenicia (campbellgrayhotels .com), which reopened last year after a renovation by hotelier Gordon Campbell Gray.

Elsewhere, the city’s baroque mansions are being converted into stylish boutique properties, including the eight-suite Casa Ellul (casaellul.com) and the ornate Palazzo Consiglia (palazzoconsiglia.com). Not to be outdone, Valletta’s longstanding luxury stalwart the Corinthia Palace Hotel (corinthia.com) recently unveiled a collection of new Signature Suites with private terraces overlooking the city. —S.R.

Top 21 Destinations

21 Places to Be in 2018

I S R A E L’ S

THEN AND NOW Villa Brown (above) is a fresh and fashionable addition to the Jerusalem hotel scene, while the soon-to-open Setai (right) will offer a bit of ancient history to modern travelers in Tel Aviv.

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considered Israel’s two poles: The former is embedded in its past, while the latter is hurtling toward its future. For 2018, however, the country’s major cities are trading places.

In Jerusalem, new hotels and emerging events are encouraging a savvy breed of pilgrims to look beyond its sacred sites.

Just steps from HaTachana—a former railway turned trendy shopping and dining space—the new Orient Jerusalem (isrotel .com) is offering a chic boutique alternative to the city’s staid luxury hotels. Nearby, an Ottoman-era villa has been converted into Villa Brown (brownhotels.com), another fashionable property with its finger on the city’s modern pulse. That pulse will be racing in June, when the annual Jerusalem Design Week ( jdw.co.il) brings some of the world’s top creatives to the City of David.

In Tel Aviv, meanwhile, the city’s contemporary streak is taking a retro turn. In the revitalized port neighborhood of Jaffa, the new W Tel Aviv – Jaffa (starwood hotels.com) will soon open within a former 19th-century convent and hospital. Nearby, the Setai Tel Aviv (thesetaihotel.co.il) has claimed its own ancient abode in a carefully restored 13th-century structure set along the rugged Jaffa coast. Farther north, Dizengoff Square is getting the throwback treatment as well, with a meticulous restoration that will bring the Bauhaus landmark back to its beginnings as the city’s social hub. —Necee Regis

ASSAF PINCHUK

big city switch

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21 Places to Be in 2018

big five in

B O T S WA N A

17 Botswana’s abundant wildlife, private reserves, and stable political system have helped make the southern African country an eminently popular—and excessively expensive—safari destination. Now, new lodgings are bringing the country’s level of accommodation up to that of the on-theground experience, leaving no doubt that Botswana is Africa’s safari spot to beat.

Leading the charge is Great Plains Conservation’s (greatplainsconservation .com) Duba Plains (pictured), where a fivesuite camp and an elegant two-bedroom residence opened last spring in a 77,000acre private reserve rich with lions, Cape buffalo, and elephants. Luxury adventure at its best, the Okavango Delta escape complements Great Plains’ Zarafa, a five-suite retreat in the Selinda Reserve whose 2008 debut helped set Botswana on its upward spiral of exclusivity.

Another standard-bearer in southern Africa, Wilderness Safaris (wilderness -safaris.com) opened the eight-suite Qorokwe camp in the southeastern Okavango Delta in December. The company is also in the process of renovating its Mombo and Little Mombo camps—once considered Botswana’s definitive safari lodges—and reopening them in March in a prime location in the Okavango’s Moremi Game Reserve. Elsewhere in the Okavango, the outfitter andBeyond (andbeyond.com) reopened its Nxabega Okavango Tented Camp last June, Belmond (belmond.com) renovated its renowned Eagle Island Lodge, and Sanctuary Retreats (sanctuaryretreats .com) reopened its Sanctuary Chief’s Camp with the new 6,673-square-foot—and as much as $12,000-per-night—Geoffrey Kent Luxury Suite. —Bruce Wallin

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raising the mainsail in

NEW PORT

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the re-berth of

S T. K I T T S

The buzz around St. Kitts’s Christophe Harbour (christopheharbour.com) has waxed and waned for years. The 2,500-acre development has been promising since 2014 to turn its West Indies home into the Caribbean’s newest hot spot. That finally might happen this year, as the harbor at last reaches a critical mass thanks to recent debuts including a marina village and the Park Hyatt St. Kitts (stkitts.park.hyatt .com). The former is home to 25 berths (including a handful that can accommodate superyachts up to 250 feet), as well as new

KITTITIAN COOL The new Park Hyatt St. Kitts brings unprecedented luxuries to the West Indies isle.

boutiques, galleries, and a beachside bar.

The latter, which opened in November on a golden stretch of Banana Bay, brings to the island the Caribbean’s first Miraval Life in Balance Spa. There’s more to come this year, with a Tom Fazio–designed golf course, dozens of million-dollar villas and residences, and the 11,000-square-foot Customs House (a VIP port of entry for the yachting crowd that will include a fitness center, lounge, and marina operations post), all ensuring that the St. Kitts buzz swells well into 2019. —J.C.

NEWPORT: AINHOA SANCHEZ; ST. KIT TS: PATRICK J. O’BRIEN

18

The 13th Volvo Ocean Race (volvoocean race.com) will crisscross four oceans, six continents, and 45,000 nautical miles before it reaches its final destination in the Hague this June. But the legendary around-the-world sailing competition will make only one North American stop, and that’s in the sailing mecca of Newport, R.I. For 2 weeks in May, the tony New England town will become ground zero for the seafaring extravaganza, playing host to the end of leg eight (a 5,700-nautical-mile journey originating in Itajaí, Brazil) and the beginning of leg nine (a transatlantic stretch culminating in Cardiff, Wales). In between, visitors to Newport’s race village can watch in-port practice sprints between the world’s most skilled sailors. For the best port views, stay at the new Gurney’s Newport Resort & Marina (gurneysresorts.com) on Goat Island, just opposite the race village. —J.C.

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PROGRAMMING SUBJECT TO CHANGE

21 Places to Be in 2018

rethinking

RUSSI A

MARR AKECH’S

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museum à la mode

Marrakech doesn’t need a Bilbao effect— but it might get one anyway. The Moroccan city, which was already a hit for its enchanting medina and colorful Jardin Majorelle, welcomed in October the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech (museeyslmarra kech.com), a 43,000-square-foot museum devoted entirely to the work of the fashion icon for whom it’s named. Located just a few steps from the Majorelle—Saint Laurent’s former estate that recently renovated its Berber Museum and Villa Oasis (the residence he shared with his partner in life and business, Pierre Bergé)—the ochre-colored institution showcases thousands of sketches and couture designs. The new museum is sure to send the fashion set flocking to Marrakech, where they will have no shortage of places to stay, including the new Oberoi, Marrakech (oberoihotels.com), slated for a spring debut, and the forthcoming Grace Marrakech (gracehotels.com). —J.C.

MOROCCAN MUSE A sprawling collection of iconic couture is on display at the Museé Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech (above and left).

Current events aside, Russia is rife with reasons for a visit this year. As host of both the 2018 FIFA World Cup (fifa.com) and an annual Formula 1 Grand Prix (formula1 .com), the nation is working hard to remind travelers of the intrigue and appeal that lie beyond the heated headlines.

“Russia has been investing heavily in tourism, infrastructure, and renovations, spending a lot of time and money to get it ready for visitors,” says Jaclyn Sienna India, founder of the luxury outfitter Sienna Charles (siennacharles.com), which offers bespoke trips to the country. For U.S. travelers attending the World Cup, India notes that Russia’s typically involved entry process will become markedly easier—the country is waiving its visa requirements for attendees of the sporting event who visit between June 14 and July 15. Beyond that, booking with an in-the-know expert who has on-the-ground connections is imperative. Sienna Charles can organize such VIP experiences as after-hours museum and gallery tours, dinners in private palaces, exclusive visits to traditional bathhouses, and, of course, tickets to this year’s sporting events. —S.R.

MARRAKECH: NICOLAS MATHÉUS/FONDATION JARDIN MAJORELLE; RUSSIA: SHUT TERSTOCK

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TUSCAN TO THE SEA

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The newly launched sailing yacht Satori brings the brilliance of Borgo Santo Pietro to the Mediterranean. B Y S A M A N T H A B R O O K S

STUART PEARCE

CHARTER CHOICE

Tuscany to the Sea

IT’S OUR FINAL MORNING aboard Satori, a

newly launched 135-foot sailing yacht, and owners Claus and Jeanette Thottrup are apologizing for the weather—a perfectly balmy 76 degrees and sunny. “We’ve had such calm weather all summer, but winds are supposed to pick up in a bit,” says Claus, who, along with his wife, also owns the Borgo Santo Pietro resort in Tuscany. “If we leave by 11 am, we will miss them, but if we wait until 1, I’m afraid it might be uncomfortably choppy.”

Our one hesitation about heading to shore early is that we’ll miss a final meal by Andrea Mattei, the chef who took a break from his post at Borgo Santo Pietro to join us on board. Claus assures us, however, that instead we’ll find a lovely place for a late-afternoon lunch along the Tuscan coast. A half hour later, as we reach the harbor,

N Interior spaces throughout emphasize the outdoors.

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the Tyrrhenian Sea begins to whitecap and swell, just as he predicted.

Sailing since he was a 4-year-old growing up in Copenhagen, Denmark, Claus has spent five decades navigating the seas. Jeanette, who also hails from Denmark, is not particularly fond of the pursuit, but she does share Claus’s affinity for Italy—a

N The aft deck is one of several lounging areas on Satori.

N The master suite spans the width of the yacht.

S An observation kitchen is adjacent to the main dining area.

BOT TOM RIGHT: STEFANO SCATÁ; REST OF SPREAD: STUART PEARCE

THE YACHT IS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN A TRADITIONAL TURKISH GULET AND A SCHOONER.

mutual passion that works to the benefit of their guests on land and at sea.

Indeed, even after a college semester spent in Siena and nearly a dozen trips to Italy since, I have never once heard of Follonica, the town where we’ve stopped for lunch. The charming seaside village—which claims the widest expanse of beach in all of Tuscany—is the kind of idyllic, undiscovered stretch Americans long to tell their friends back home about.

Even better is to announce that you’ve been to its hidden gem of a restaurant, Oasi, which we enter moments before the kitchen closes after lunch.

As the only people dining, we quickly decide on three courses of crudo and housemade pasta with truffles and clams. The first two courses are divine. Claus inquires about the chef’s background from our server (who is also the chef’s wife), and when it is revealed that the Thottrups own La Bottega del Buon Caffee in Florence, the meal rises to new heights. Perhaps the chef is hoping that the Thottrups will elevate his

career as they did that of La Bottega’s Michelin-starred Antonello Sardi, who started out as a dishwasher. By the end of our eight-course, 3-hour lunch, the couple is strongly considering it.

The Thottrups’ love of authentic Italian creations is most evident at Borgo Santo Pietro, their 200-acre resort located about 70 minutes south of Florence. “When we bought Borgo in 2001, it was originally going to be a country home for us,” says Jeanette. “But as we were going through the renovation process, it was such an undertaking, I didn’t think it made sense to keep it just for us. We fell in love with the region, and it was something we wanted to share.”

Ten years later, the 13th-century estate thrives with 20 rooms, a tennis court, a spa, two restaurants (Meo Modo is a destination in its own right for chef Mattei’s farm-to-plate fare), organic gardens, and 300 sheep that produce milk for the pecorino cheese. Jeanette has spent the last 4 years developing a skin-care line, Seed to Skin, for which all the

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Tuscany to the Sea

ingredients are either grown on-site or hand-sourced by the Borgo team. The Thottrups have also planted vineyards and eventually plan to make their own wine. But it is the launch of Satori—an extension of the Tuscany property featuring much of the same service, food, and products—that has perhaps been their biggest labor of love yet.

Claus says that the sailing yacht—which was built over the course of 3 years in a Turkish shipyard developed expressly for that purpose— is somewhere between a traditional Turkish gulet and a schooner. Jeanette, meanwhile, stresses that it

represents a modern concept with ample deck space divided into different areas. “So often you see sailboats with all of the deck space crammed in the back,” she says. “The last thing we wanted was for people to have to spend all their time belowdecks, so we made the layout up top completely unique.”

The spacious foredeck includes a trio of lounge beds.

At night, additional lounge chairs are brought out, and the space transforms into an outdoor cinema. (A catalog of hundreds of films can be accessed on any of the yacht’s televisions via iPad controllers.) The main deck N Passengers can take classes with the yacht’s chefs.

comprises a dining table for 12, placed just beyond the open kitchen. “We wanted our guests to interact with the chefs and see the food being prepared. It’s such an integral part of the experience, and we wanted it to be more immersive,” says Jeanette, who adds that cooking lessons will also be

offered. “It’s the opposite of a motorboat, where you sit on top of the deck and everything is happening underneath.” An enclosed living room with plush sofas and a library follows, while the aft deck features a bar, daybeds, and additional sofas and lounge chairs.

While Satori’s layout

“WE WANTED OUR GUESTS TO INTERACT WITH THE CHEFS AND SEE THE FOOD BEING PREPARED.”

N The 135-foot yacht’s wine cellar holds 250 bottles.

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BOT TOM LEFT AND TOP: STUART PEARCE; BOT TOM RIGHT: STEFANO SCATÁ

—JEANETTE THOTTRUP

TOP AND BOT TOM: STEFANO SCATÁ

N Vintage accents pair with modern comforts throughout.

might be modern, the yacht’s aesthetic is decidedly vintage.

The chairs in the dining room are the same ones found at Harry’s Bar in Venice, and the silver Champagne coolers are from the Italian navy, circa 1920. Large-scale black-and-white photos from Greek photographers of the 1920s and ’30s are scattered throughout the ship, capturing marine life, fishermen, and sponge divers.

Satori accommodates as many as eight passengers in three nearly identical staterooms, plus a master suite that spans the width of the ship. A spa suite can convert to a queen-size stateroom to host two additional guests, but otherwise it functions as a treatment room with a massage table and en suite bathroom. “The point of the ship was to make a real hotel on the sea,” Claus says. “Most of the time, with sailing, you either get a rugged ship

designed for racing that is terribly uncomfortable or a comfortable ship that isn’t really equipped for actual sailing. We’re combining the best of both worlds, and the result is streamlined, elegant, and aerodynamic.”

Perhaps most enticing is the Thottrups’ dedication to creating the best possible experience for their guests.

“We’ve spent the last year creating carefully curated itineraries in and around Italy, which we’ll adjust as we can to accommodate individual guests’ needs and weather concerns,” Claus says. “One of my favorites starts in Amalfi and goes to Capri and then to a lot of lesser-known places like Palmarola—a small uninhabited island full of grottoes and turquoise lagoons and named the most beautiful island in the Med by Jacques Cousteau.”

Our group had originally boarded Satori at the marina

POOL PLEASURES In August, the Thottrups’ Borgo Santo Pietro (borgosantopietro.com) revealed a pair of stunning new pool villas. The identical accommodations each offer 900 square feet of indoor space and 1,600 square feet of outdoor space for swimming and lounging. A living room with a fireplace and concealed flat-screen TV flows into a spacious bedroom, which features a hand-carved four-poster bed from Florence. The grand bathroom has an antique-style bathtub and vanity units—each carved out of whole slabs of travertine specifically for the property—while a glass-walled shower looks back out to the pool area. The nightly rate for one of the new villas starts at $3,500; prices at Borgo Santo Pietro begin at $640 for the smallest room in the main villa. —S.B.

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STUART PEARCE

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Tuscany to the Sea

in Portiglioni, about 45 minutes south of Borgo Santo Pietro. It was late summer, so there was no shortage of prestigious motor yachts making their way through the Med—but Satori still stood out.

We headed for Elba, anchoring just in time to catch the last of the sun as we made use of the ship’s Seabobs, paddleboards, and wakeboards. After exploring the island, we arrived back on board for dinner.

The formal dining table and handpicked place settings were elegant, but the mood

“THE LAST THING WE WANTED WAS FOR PEOPLE TO HAVE TO SPEND ALL THEIR TIME BELOWDECKS.” —JEANETTE THOTTRUP

was informal as we interacted with the chef and crew while they prepared and served each course. At meal’s end, Claus suggested another glass of wine on the foredeck, which had been transformed into a cinematic space. “Be careful though with the glasses,” he warned. “It’s inevitable you’ll fall asleep on the lounge chairs before the movie ends.”

Sure enough, I could feel my empty glass start to slip between my fingers as I drifted off, delightfully exhausted after a beautiful day aboard Satori.

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Big Blue Yachting 2017 LENGTH: 135 feet CABINS: 5 GUESTS: 10 CRUISING AREAS: The Mediterranean and surrounding seas WEEKLY RATES: Starting at $118,000 HIGHLIGHTS: An abundance of outdoor spaces; show kitchen for guests to learn from and observe the yacht’s chefs; onboard spa suite and optional therapist; array of toys for activities like waterskiing, wakeboarding, éýĸýďödz ×ďé ̏ģûýďö CONTACT: satoriyacht.com DELIVERED:

N Once the sun sets, the foredeck can convert to a cinema.

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Southern

HENRIK BLOMQVIST

At Tormaresca, Tuscany’s Antinori family is reviving interest in one of Italy’s greatest grapes—and in the

rustic region of Puglia, which is enjoying a rebirth as the peninsulaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newest hub of wine, food, and culture.

By BRETT ANDERSON

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SOUTHERN STAR Produced from Aglianico, one of Italy’s most impressive varietals, Tormaresca Bocca di Lupo is a dense, complex alternative to Brunello and Barolo.

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souttheastern terrain—the proverbial heel of the boot—has longg been overlooked by the armies of tourists that make their seassonal invasions of Campania, Tuscany, Piedmont, and the neto. Yet this neglect may have been a boon for the people Ven off th his predominantly agricultural region who for millennia receeived an abundance of attention from the occupying forces of Greece, Spain, and the Ottoman Empire. So frequent were these intrusions that one of the two signature architectural styles of Pugglia is the masseria, or fortified farmhouse, behind whose barred gatees the owners retreated in times of peril. The other uniquely Apu ulian structure is the trullo, a conical stone laborer’s hut that cam me into vogue in the 19th century as viticulture began to play a larrger role in the area’s economy. Today, the gradually changing circumstances of this once-poor part of Italy are reflected in the tran nsformation of many masserie into boutique hotels and trulli into o rentals for well-heeled oenotourists.

THIS PAGE: HENRIK BLOMQVIST; OPPOSITE, BOT TOM: GIORGIO BARONI

Southern Nobility

The cultivation of wine has served as an important catalyst for this gentrification of Puglia, which is sometimes referred to as the New Tuscany. The sobriquet is apt, given that the oenological renaissance began with an investment by Piero Antinori, the patriarch of Tuscany’s distinguished and aristocratic wine-producing family.

When Antinori acquired the flagship estate of the unquestioned jewel in Puglia’s viticultural crown of Tormaresca in 1998, Bocca di Lupo, under the joint ownership of the Palumbo and Gancia families, had been producing mainly bulk wine. The Florentine vintner, however, recognized in the property an unpolished gem.

“The Antinoris were the ones to really start the Tormaresca project,” observes the label’s brand manager, Vito Palumbo, whose father was once part owner of the land. “They were looking ahead, thinking the region could produce world-class wine.

The family fell in love with the landscape and the beauty of the land, which was undiscovered at the time. They also fell in love with Aglianico, which is the grape of Bocca di Lupo. So they invested more than €30 million, replanting the vineyards and building the facility.”

A magnificent orchestration of angles, arches, and creamy white stone, the winery at Bocca di Lupo—set nearly 1,000 feet above sea level and located in the Castel del Monte DOC—embodies the synergy between tradition and progress that characterizes present-day Puglia. With its bell tower and walls of tufa bricks, the structure reflects not only the bright southern sunlight but also the air of well-fortified sanctuary found in the neighboring historic

CLASSIC CANTINA Diners savor the Antinori family’s passion for Puglia, its wines, and its cuisine at Tormaresca Vino & Cucina, which specializes in pairing regional wines and dishes.

masserie. Inside, however, state-of-theart technology and a pristine 1,000-barrel cellar, complete with vaulted ceilings, aid in crafting some of the most extraordinary examples of this ancient red varietal—which, at its best, matches or even surpasses the power and grace of Nebbiolo or Sangiovese.

“We have two estates,” says Palumbo, “Bocca di Lupo in the north and Masseria Maìme to the south, in Salento. The soils at Bocca di Lupo come from oceanic rocks, so they lend the wines a slight brininess that you can detect when tasting. It’s right between the sea and a volcanic area. The days are hot and dry, the nights cool, so it is

the perfect terroir for Aglianico.”

Technically, the designation “Noble Grape”—which refers to international varietals recognized for their consistent quality—applies only to such ubiquitously planted vines as Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, and Syrah. However, many argue that Aglianico—like Sangiovese and Nebbiolo— deserves inclusion in this august grouping.

Thought for many centuries to have been brought to southern Italy by early Greek settlers in the 6th century BC, this intense, tannic, and astonishingly expressive grape probably takes its name from the Italian word Ellenico. Allegedly the basis for one

Borgo Egnazia Perhaps the finest resort in all of Puglia, this idyllic retreat, modeled on a classic Puglian village, conceals sophisticated contemporary spaces behind its traditional limestone facades and magenta clouds of bougainvillea. Located in Savelletri di Fasano on the Adriatic Sea, the resort, which opened in 2010, boasts 184 rooms, 28 villas, two beaches, a golf course, a spa, and six restaurants created by executive chef Domingo Schingaro and Michelinstarred chef and consultant Andrea Ribaldone.

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Antichi Sapori Visitors to the Bocca di Lupo estate should pair a bottle of Tormaresca’s superb Aglianico with a meal prepared by chef Pietro Zito. At his small, casual restaurant, Zito specializes in the country cuisine of his upbringing. There, the atmosphere is very much that of a modest home in which the proprietor mingles intimately with his guests, who are free to venture into the kitchen for conversation. Zito’s menus emphasize seasonal ingredients harvested within a few square miles of the town. Diners may enjoy such rustic delicacies as bread or pasta made from grano arso (“burned grain”) or pancetta di cavallo.

The Florence of the South The main metropolis of the Salentine Peninsula, Lecce presents the visitor with an eye-popping assortment of visual and cultural wonders.

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Although the city existed at the time of the Trojan War, it was moved to its present location by Emperor Hadrian in the second century. Evidence of antiquity persists in the form of the Roman

the palate, flavors of black plum, ripe cherry, pomegranate, and menthol coat a core of fine-grained tannins. The more mature 2001 vintage, on the other hand, more closely resembles a Brunello di Montalcino thanks to its black-red color and scents of blackberry, fennel seed, dried orange peel, cinnamon, and tea.

The differences between these two bottles underscore the complexity and range of Aglianico from Puglia—not to mention the sagacity of Piero Antinori in realizing, decades ago, that Bocca di Lupo presented his family not only with the means to produce uniquely delicious wines but also with the opportunity to help reinvent the region.

“The Marchese [Antinori] says the Pugliese have always been great farmers,” notes Palumbo. “They are the largest producers of olive oil, table grapes, and vegetables.

But nobody really had the vision to invest in technology and innovation in winemaking.

Tormaresca has raised the bar of quality for the region, and now that change is leading to success in tourism, which has happened in the last 5 or 10 years. That,” he adds, “is maybe the largest revolution that the Antinoris bring to Puglia.”

amphitheater (still used for performances), but the historic center’s architecture is dominated by the elaborate baroque style. From the gracefully appointed Risorgimento Resort, located in

an impressive 19th-century structure, travelers can stroll among the city’s sights, which include the Basilica of Santa Croce, the Triumphal Arch, and the Column of Sant’Oronzo (shown).

BOT TOM: PAOLO PARADISO/SHUT TERSTOCK

of ancient Rome’s most famous wines, Falernian—of which the writer Petronius was especially fond and which fueled the orgies depicted in his Satyricon—Aglianico is not, in fact, of Hellenic origin, according to recent genetic studies. Thus, it remains something of an oenological mystery. No question exists, however, as to its tantalizing charm, prodigious structure, and impressive longevity. “It’s a very challenging grape because it has very nervous tannins,” Palumbo says. “The main challenge at Bocca di Lupo is to put the velvet glove over that iron fist. It’s quite different from the typical wines of Puglia. At Masseria Maìme, the main wine is Torcicoda, which is a Primitivo. The Aglianicos from Campania and Basilicata come from volcanic soils, so the tannins are more angular and the wine leaner. In Puglia, where it’s warmer, the nose becomes a bit more fragrant, dense, and because of the soil and proximity to the seaside, the palate is smooth.”

This mix of intensity and polish informs the refined 2012 vintage of Tormaresca Bocca di Lupo. Reminiscent of young Barolo, this garnet-hued red offers a rich nose of wild berry, dried herb, coffee, and anise. On

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PERFECT

ZEN A NEW CRUISE TAKES PASSENGERS ON A POETIC PILGRIMAGE THROUGH THE WATERCOLORED WONDERS OF WESTERN JAPAN.

BY A M A N DA C A S T L E M A N

in Shikotsu-Tōya National Park, and dawn is a golden-orange streak across the misty sky as I clamber along a rocky cliff above Lake Tōya. Below, the lilac waters are ethereal brushstrokes in a Japanese watercolor painting, encircling the volcanic Nakajima Island that rises from its center and reflecting the forest-covered hills along its shores.

IT IS NEARLY 4 AM

Burning bright, the sun gilds the symmetrical snow cone of Mount Yōtei—Hokkaido’s miniature version of Mount Fuji—and ascends over the mountains, silhouetting the slender trees and delicate spring buds that surround me. Only a handful of early risers are here to bear witness: a power-walking senior, two gardeners, and a pair of photographers with heavy-duty cameras and tripods in tow. I am a gaijin (outsider) in this rugged and beautiful region, wild-eyed with jet lag and drunk on the most glorious sunrise of my life. Yet each fellow hiker I encounter stops, bows, and greets me with a polite “Ohayō gozaimasu.” Good morning, indeed.

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The 132-cabin L’Austral sails the western coast of Japan on Abercrombie & Kent’s 2-week journey.

SHIP, CARP STREAMERS, COOK: JUSTIN WEILER; WOMAN: ELECTRA K. VASILEIADOU/GET T Y IMAGES; TAIKO PERFORMANCE: PAOLO NEGRI/GET T Y IMAGES

The ship unveils enigmatic treasures long overshadowed.

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Perfect Zen

ki To take pleasure in or enjoy; to savor slowly and fully

Nothing approaches the wild ardor of the remote ports of Japan.

I have come to this idyllic isle—as far from the packed subway cars and neon lights of Tokyo as I can imagine—on L’Austral, a 132-cabin yacht that Abercrombie & Kent has chartered for its new Wonders of Japan cruise. The 2-week expedition explores Hokkaido—the northernmost of Japan’s four islands—and the country’s less-frequented western coast, darting from caldera lakes and sacred shrines to cities like Hiroshima and Osaka before crossing the Sea of Japan to South Korea’s ancient capital of Gyeongju.

Every morning, the ship—a silken cocoon of French seafaring savoir faire on which every experience has been fine-tuned to perfection— delivers my fellow passengers and me to temples and gardens and even medieval castles, unveiling enigmatic treasures long overshadowed by the country’s major cities.

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Passengers delve deep into the heart of Japanese tradition with lavish lunches, tea ceremonies, and performances.

In previous travels, I have seen my fair share of perfunctory attractions from the railings of big boats—whether in the Caribbean or the Mediterranean, the Mekong or the Northwest Passage—but nothing approaches the wild ardor of the remote ports of Japan.

In Muroran, a 50-strong squad of young gymnasts dances with NFL-cheerleader precision, somersaulting and backflipping, their long kimono-style sleeves flapping like butterfly wings. On Sado Island, women in wide-brimmed hats and frilly white aprons encircle L’Austral in nimble tarai bune—tiny washtubs turned fishing skiffs powered by simple wooden oars. And at nearly every port, yuru-chara—bouncing costumed characters acting as cheerful municipal mascots—welcome us with cartoonish delight.

The greetings at each destination are only precursors to the

I stroll through exquisite gardens where every tree has a medical file and workers groom the moss with tweezers.

ma

OPPOSITE PAGE: JUSTIN WEILER; THIS PAGE: G ARDEN, SHIP’S DECK: JUSTIN WEILER; BOATS, HARVESTING: AMANDA CASTLEMAN

Consciousness of space between forms; an interval of peace

adventures that await us. I stroll through exquisite gardens where every tree has a medical file and workers groom the moss with tweezers. I relish the pale blush of sweet bean paste at a tea ceremony, the flavor mimicking spring’s blossoming irises. My heart beats in harmony with the powerful taiko drums, struck in perfect unison by Sado Island’s legendary Kodō drummers. My stomach leaps at lavish lunches comprising a constellation of small dishes and bowls, each containing seasonal delicacies that envelop all my senses at once. Each ritual inspires in its own way: the sushi chef’s precision, the tea master’s elaborate presentation, the Zen gardener’s meditative discipline, the drummers’ collective control.

This precise way of living is easy to get used to, especially when paired with the luxuries of L’Austral. For every tea service and

Matsue’s exquisite gardens (top) and Sado Island’s traditional tarai bune (above) are among the cruise’s highlights.

cheery mascot we encounter on land, a corresponding extravagance awaits onboard. There’s the sleek nautical design by Jean-Philippe Nuel, dazzling with Swarovski crystal chandeliers, leather and silk details, and a sophisticated palette of gray, taupe, ivory, and caramel. The Sothys Spa, with its hydrotherapy and hammam services, offers a refreshing escape following long days ashore. In the two restaurants, the cuisine (and wine list) is more European than Japanese—a welcome change for some guests, disappointing for others. And the evening entertainment in the plush theater and three bars varies from lectures to performances, including an excellent production by the Kaikaro geisha of Kanazawa’s famed Higashi Chayagai district.

Abercrombie & Kent’s service is also attuned to this country’s

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Perfect Zen

iki Simplicity, sophistication, spontaneity, and originality

obsession with perfection. I learn this one crisp and clear morning as L’Austral glides into the port of Kanazawa. For years, I have longed to experience the region’s traditional hot springs in the famed Yamanaka Onsen, located just 35 miles away. But there’s a hitch: A discreet tattoo on my wrist and another at the nape of my neck are all but taboo in this land known for its graciousness and obeisance to rules. Body art roils deep waters for the Japanese, who forcibly inked criminals and outcasts for centuries. More recently, tattoos have become the mark of yakuza mobsters, hence today’s blanket ban at many of the nation’s bathhouses.

While some guides may have simply resolved this culture-clash dilemma with a waterproof bandage, Sumiyo Terai, Abercrombie

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The Wonders of Japan itinerary combines French luxury aboard L’Austral with Japanese ritual at every port.

& Kent’s expert in all things onsen, has a more effective solution: She buys out the women’s spa at Kagari Kisshotei, Yamanaka’s hotsprings hotel near the picture-perfect Korogi Bridge.

An hour later, I am slipping into a solitary steaming pool, my only companions the trilling birds in the trees above and the dappling sunlight dancing across the surface of the mineral-rich water. Just beyond, jagged rocks teeter on the edge of the verdant Kakusenkei Gorge, a natural wonder celebrated by the haiku poet Bashō. I sink deeper still, once again soaking in the wonders of Japan.

Abercrombie & Kent, abercrombiekent.com

STAIRS, INTERIOR: JUSTIN WEILER

L’Austral is a silken cocoon of seafaring savoir faire.

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THE SLATE-GRAY JULY SKY THREATENS RAIN, yet Edinburgh’s Old Town is thronged with tourists for the forthcoming Festival Fringe. My black-and-cream Indian Roadmaster is parked outside the überartsy G&V Royal Mile Hotel, where the doorman in his tweed kilt stands bemused.

Around me, passersby snap photos of the retro-glamorous bike and beg me to sit on it as I prepare to depart for the Highlands.

The Roadmaster is indeed an attention-grabber—and an oddly deluxe ride on which to tour Scotland’s North Coast 500.

MASTERING THE NORTH

INDIAN MOT ORCYCLE’S HIGHLY CIVILIZED T OURING BIKE TACKLES SCOTLAND’S

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O The baronial-style Ackergill Tower hotel is among the stops along the NC500.

WILD AND T ORTUOUS NORTHERN ROUTE.

COAST 500 Story and photography by Christopher P. Baker

The 500-mile loop, which begins and ends in Inverness, carves a tortuous course around the untamed northwest extreme of Britain. Established in 2014

by Prince Charles’s nonprofit North Highland Initiative, the already iconic NC500 combines epic scenery with exhilarating switchbacks and twisties, presenting as thrilling a motorcycle journey as any in the British Isles.

I had ridden a Roadmaster in South Africa in 2015, so I knew the behemoth bagger was responsive enough to handle the NC500’s sinewy and vertiginous single-lane roads. Boosting its résumé was Indian’s new Ride Command telematics, with a 7-inch touchscreen interface, and the bike’s vintage styling—which suited my plan to visit some of Scotland’s finest historic hotels. I had arranged for a new Roadmaster through Saltire Motorcycles in Edinburgh and was soon setting out from the city for Inverness.

O Intricate design details make the Roadmaster an eye-catcher along the route.

I’m barely 5 minutes into my ride to Inverness when I spy a deer running parallel to my left, almost within reach. I’m amid a glade of pines, and the road is slick from last night’s rain. Suddenly, the deer skews right and bullets in front of me.

As I jerk on the brake lever, the panicked animal hits the deck with hooves flailing—and I gain an immediate appreciation for the Indian’s ABS. It’s raining again when I depart Rocpool Reserve, a Georgian manse turned hotel in Inverness. The North Sea is barely visible through a thickening shroud as I hug the coast on the A9, bound for Wick. On an adventure bike I’d be drenched, but the full-dress tourer’s vast batwing fairing and adjustable electronic windshield (with a 4-inch range activated by a switch on the bars) guarantee against being drookit. Fortunately, there are plenty of intriguing sites at which to duck the weather. South of Brora, I break at Dunrobin Castle, which, pinned by its fairy-tale towers, appears transplanted from the Loire Valley. And although I don’t tipple while riding, I add a stop at Clynelish Distillery for a Whisky 101 tour.

Climbing steeply to Berriedale, I struggle to read the tight corners hemmed by endless walls of wet Caithness flagstone.

Navigating the dense veil of cold fog is made easier thanks to the brilliant tablet-like touchscreen display, which is flanked by twin analog gauges. I can select a fullscreen satellite navigation map or opt for a split-screen combo that displays the map alongside customizable bike and road data that includes real-time tire pressure.

The clouds clear as I draw up

Mastering the North Coast 500

to the baronial-style Ackergill Tower, a cliff-top hotel where I receive a warm couthie welcome.

The blue sky and crenellated tower make a fantastic backdrop to photograph the bike, with late-afternoon sunlight glinting off its acres of chrome.

The NC500 circuit cranks up the drama beyond John o’Groats as the A836 scrolls in broad arcs through a vast expanse of heather-carpeted moor and bog clawed by wind. Lambs litter the road. West of Tongue, the road augers down past Castle Varich to the Kyle of Tongue. To my south, brooding clouds drape Ben Hope and Ben Loyal. As the road shrinks to single-track carving around lovely Loch Eriboll, the sun finally peeks through, painting the still waters in turquoise and jade. The stretch to Durness is the stuff of coastal-ride dreams, the road rolling in swooping curves past surging peninsulas and picture-postcard beaches with Caribbean-blue seas and sand the color of Valspar Perfection.

Come Durness, the NC500 slingshots south through a wild, minimalist landscape of wind-ruffled lochans and domeshaped mountains rising from melancholic moors cloaked in a muted palette of yellow and mauve. Oncoming cars and camper vans courteously pull over at passing places, spaced on average every 100 yards. A red fox trots across the road, but as I

THE HOWLING WIND IS LIKE A WILDCAT ’S BITE, BUT THE RIDE IS SUBLIME AS IT CORKSCREWS DOWNHILL BEFORE SLUICING THROUGH A U- SHAPED VALLEY. raise my camera, it turns bushy tail and merges into the gorse like a ghost.

Crossing the curving Kylesku Bridge, I turn right onto the denuded roller-coaster B869.

Plunging and peaking like the skirl of bagpipes, this infamously testy section circling the remote Assynt peninsula is a challenge even for experienced riders. The writhing snake-thin trail with blind hills and bends requires hyper-attention and a judicious, nonstop interplay of throttle and clutch. I love it—and so does the bike, despite its near half-ton heft. The Roadmaster’s flawlessly smooth 111 cu in V-twin engine delivers stump-pulling, low-rev torque at low speed, aided by instantly precise throttle-by-wire fuel delivery. Superbly balanced, the bike powers effortlessly uphill and breezes through the curves like a buck.

After a night at the Inver Lodge Hotel, which is perched over Loch Inver, I look out on a cold morning horizon, the lake buried beneath a charcoal sky.

O The Roadmaster holds court at the Ackergill Tower (top) and Torridon (above) hotels.

O Britain’s untamed northwest serves as the backdrop for the journey, start to finish.

Ensconced in a sculpted, wellheated saddle, and dry behind the fairings, I take on Scotland’s famously fickle weather once again. I’m treated to staggering views of glacier-scoured Suilven, Cúl Mór, and Stac Pollaidh— dark, brooding inselbergs gilded by golden shafts that streak down through the clouds. The tendril-thin route ripples east past Loch Assynt and turns south for Ullapool, a lovely fishing port nestled on the shores of Loch Broom. Shifting westward as the A832—a busy two-laner that feels like a freeway after the lean, sparsely trafficked back roads— the route curls around a feast of inlets and lochs before making a right onto the A896. Whittled down to a sliver, it slices sharply down through Glen Torridon, hemmed spectacularly by sheer terraced mountains.

I retire to the Torridon hotel, which sits at the head of a sea loch. The inn’s magenta tartans, wood paneling, and racks of antlers over the entrance hall recall its Victorian hunting-lodge heritage. I sink into a plump, black leather chair in the Whisky Bar and savor a dram of light, peaty 12-year-old Bunnahabhain, one of more than 350 malt whiskies filling wall-to-wall shelves. The Michelin-starred chef Ross Stovold has just moved in to helm the hotel’s 1887 Restaurant, and I experience Scotland’s gourmet field-to-fork revolution at its best over a dinner of west-coast scallops, succulent lamb rump with turnips and kale, and a wickedly divine white-chocolate semifreddo with Torridon strawberries and almonds.

Beyond Torridon, the

NC500—now an unlabeled one-laner—hugs the shore of the Applecross peninsula. Sport bikes fly by—and no wonder. The 24 miles to Applecross unfurl a nonstop, grin-inducing combo of tight corners, twisties, and wideopen cliff-top straights with vast views to the Inner Hebridean isles of Rona, Raasay, and Skye.

It’s a perfect warm-up for what is considered the apogee of the route: From the bay-shore hamlet of Applecross, the road claws its way to 2,035 feet over Bealach na Bà, or the Pass of the Cattle, before dropping back down to the A896 at Tornapress.

Notoriously treacherous, the pass—Britain’s third-highest road—claims one of the UK’s steepest prolonged ascents, with 20 percent grades on the hairpins.

Within minutes, I’m amid swirling clouds, the summit viewpoint lost in fog. The howling wind is like a wildcat’s bite, but the ride is sublime as it corkscrews downhill in precipitous hairpins before sluicing in exponential decay through a U-shaped valley framed by monumental rock walls the color of eggplant.

From Tornapress, the route broadens and quickens through the glens on a final beeline for Inverness. As I enter the homestretch, the clouds break to the north. Crepuscular rays beam tantalizingly down over far-off Dornoch. It is Sunday, and the gas stations are closed. But the road is wide open ahead, and I’m driven to keep riding while the sun shines.

Indian Motorcycle, indianmotor cycle.com; Saltire Motorcycles, saltiremotorcycles.com

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DRIVE DODGE CHALLENGER SRT DEMON

T HI S H OR S E P OW E R H E LL I O N I S FR I G H TFULLY FUN BEH I ND THE WHE E L .

BY SHAUN T O LS O N

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The smell of hot asphalt and burnt rubber wafts into the open windows of the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon as Jim Wilder, vehicle development manager, eases the modern-day muscle car toward the staging area at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis.

Following a prolonged burnout, which cleans and warms the tires, Wilder prepares to launch the 840 hp Demon down the 4,400-foot-long drag strip using an electronic TransBrake, a feature he helped to develop that allows the driver to increase engine speed up to 2,350 rpm without overpowering the brakes. The result is quicker power delivery with as much as 15 percent more torque off the line.

tioin here tk tioin here tk tioin here tk tioin here tk tioin here tk tioin here tk

Enhanced off-theline performance and overall engine efficiency are summoned by the Demon’s electronic TransBrake and innovative cooling systems.

“Launching this car is the most fun, but it’s also the most challenging,” Wilder says as I buckle in next to him, eager to experience what the car can do.

“It’s a fine line to achieve the right balance of throttle control which delivers the maximum amount of grip. Once you launch, it’s all about getting the torque to the back tires with the nose in the air, feeding the car everything you can.”

The tree of staging lights activates and cycles through the colors. At green for go, Wilder—making the most of his 25 years of drag-racing experience— releases the paddle while stepping on the accelerator, and the car surges forward. It’s a smooth launch, one that delivers a maximum of 1.8 gs of force and quickly blurs the landscape beyond the windows.

At the one-eighth-mile mark, Wilder eases off the gas and slows the Demon, though my pulse is still racing. Dozens of such rides during the afternoon have left the engine running a little warm; and

The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon possesses 840 horses and a spirited design inspired by muscle cars of the 1960s.

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“When you get it right, you’re thrown into the back of the seat, and you’re pinned there for the full quarter-mile run. It’s the best 9 seconds of your life.”

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with the day’s temperature hovering somewhere in the low 90s Fahrenheit, conditions are far from optimal. Nevertheless, the car sprinted from zero to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds, just five-tenths of a second slower than its best time.

“It’s thrilling every single time,” Wilder says, flashing a grin. “When you get it right, you’re thrown into the back of the seat, and you’re pinned there for the full quarter-mile run. It’s the best 9 seconds of your life.”

That shot of acceleration has been the fix for those addicted to automotive speed since the 1960s—an era defined by a youth-led rebellion against the materialistic tendencies of the previous decade, especially in the United States. Automakers took note and designed vehicles that stood out—in both appearance and performance—from the ponderous cruisers of the 1950s. Those efforts led to the birth of the muscle car, a street-legal racer that was heavy on horsepower and brought motorsports to Main Street.

Just over 10 years ago, when Dodge engineers first approached the redesign of the Challenger, they took inspiration from that original muscle-car era. According to Tim Kuniskis, head of passenger car brands for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles North America, Dodge’s developers surveyed the marketplace and identified the car’s main competition— the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro. They

BY THE NUMBERS DODGE CHALLENGER SRT DEMON

A HEFTIER HELLCAT Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ SRT Group raised plenty of eyebrows recently when it debuted the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon; but the division also delivered another spirted speedster—the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody.

Since its debut in 2015, the Challenger SRT Hellcat has proved to be more popular than the brand anticipated, with 26,000 examples sold. Only in the area of handling did the car leave drivers wanting more.

As a solution, Dodge engineers recently gave the Hellcat the same body shape as the Demon, equipped it with 11-inch wheels and larger tires, retuned its suspension, and introduced electronic power steering. The result is an American track star—with improved lateral grip—capable of reaching 195 mph and, as it turns out, competing in the 2018 Robb Report Car of the Year event. —S.T.

recognized that there was little to be gained from creating a car that offered similar specs and driving experiences to those of these other vehicles.

Instead, Dodge debuted a 2008 Challenger that was deliberately larger than its competition.

“We’re going to be more muscle car,” says Kuniskis, recalling the brand’s strategy for the latest Challenger iteration. “More street strip, more lifestyle and attitude than cutting tenths of a second off road-course times. That was the car.”

When engineers from the Street and Racing Technology (SRT) division set out to build the Demon, which starts at $84,995, they began with a supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 engine that pumps out 840 hp and generates 770 ft lbs of torque. Because the car was designed with the drag strip in mind, the SRT team focused on incorporating into a street-legal vehicle the key attributes and abilities that all competitive drag-racing cars share. Every drag racer, for example, features a suspension that mechanically lifts the front end and firmly holds the back end down for better traction. The SRT folks found a way to accomplish that electronically, resulting in a drag mode that maximizes weight transfer to the rear wheels.

The same is true for the aforementioned TransBrake. “We duplicated the whole thing with electronics,” says Kuniskis. “[With the paddle shifters engaged] the computer holds all the clutches closed

2.3

Seconds it takes the car to sprint from zero to 60 mph

9.65

Elapsed time (in seconds) of the Demon’s quarter-mile drag-strip run (certified by the National Hot Rod Association)

2,576

Number of pounds transferred from front to rear to lift the Demon’s front wheels off the ground

2.92

Number of feet traveled by the Demon on front wheels only from a standing start (a Guinness World Record for a production car)

.5

Number of seconds it takes for the car to reach peak acceleration

1.8

Maximum g forces at launch

173

Cubic feet of air ingested by the Demon during a quartermile run (equivalent to the lung capacity of 816 people)

32

Additional horsepower generated when using unleaded 100 octane fuel compared to premium 91 octane fuel

6,300 Maximum engine speed, in rpm

“This stuff isn’t an invention. We just looked at all the things that drag racers do to their cars—we took all their tricks, and we modernized them.” and the car can’t move. Release the paddle, and the car launches.”

Similarly, the SRT engineers found a way to more efficiently cool a drag car’s engine between runs. Historically, racers have used bags of ice to chill the upper portion of the engine, which cools the incoming air and produces more power. SRT devised a chilling system that cycles refrigerantcooled air to the supercharger’s heat exchangers.

“With a flip of a switch, the car thinks it’s 30 degrees cooler out,” says Kuniskis.

An after-run cooling system also keeps the engine fan and low-temperature circuit coolant pump running after the engine shuts down. The coolant’s temperature can be monitored on the instrument panel’s touchscreen, which lets the driver know when the supercharger has reached the optimum temperature for another run down the strip. Together, the two systems can lower intake air temperature by as much as 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

“This stuff isn’t an invention,” Kuniskis

acknowledges. “We just looked at all the things that drag racers do to their cars—we took all their tricks, and we modernized them.”

Only 3,300 Dodge Challenger SRT Demons will be produced, and the demand has been daunting.

Kuniskis has heard stories of customers paying as much as $50,000 above the MSRP to guarantee their place on a dealer’s allocation list, which makes him believe that many customers are purchasing the car as a speculative investment.

“They’re never even going to take the plastic off the seats,” he says, adding that about half of the Challenger SRT Demons produced are likely to get “put away in storage and never see the light of day until they go through a Barrett-Jackson auction in 20 years.”

Wilder has mixed emotions about such a reality.

“It’s cool to have created something so special that it has that kind of investment stature,” he says, “but if you just park it in your garage, you’re really missing out on a great driving experience.” To hell with that.

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Once a secretive association whose members were reluctant to discuss their status—even with each other—the Social Register is now encouraging everyone to mix and mingle.

By Jack Smith

BET TMAN/GET T Y IMAGES

“Canapé?”

Don’t mind if I do.

Around me, more than 175 members of one of this country’s most exclusive societies were gathered for cocktails last spring at the Woman’s Athletic Club of Chicago. There was a prosperous though understated look to the crowd—more Brooks Brothers than Armani—and the room buzzed with pent-up excitement.

“This is the first time in our 130-year history that we’ve ever done something like this,” confided the evening’s host, financier Christopher Wolf.

The guests were no less aware of the momentous nature of the event. One partygoer, his tone hushed, observed, “This has always been like a secret society.

I’m honored to be a member, but you don’t want to ask too many questions.”

The woman standing next to him agreed. “I still don’t know how I was selected for membership,” she said. “It’s like your name gets pulled out of a little black box somewhere, and you’re in. After that, it’s best to keep a low profile lest you do something that might cause waves.”

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Socially Active

This is all too true, said an elderly gent with a Commander Schweppes beard. His was a distinguished family: His grandfather was ambassador to Switzerland, and his mother was “in the book.” Then she married a professional athlete, and the family was out. “Maybe tonight I’ll hear if our membership has been restored,” he said wistfully.

Whether his membership was restored or not, his sentiment was clear: Once you’re in, nobody wants to be dropped from the rolls of that most prestigious of American institutions, the Social Register Association.

For generations, the association’s namesake weighty black book with the pumpkin-colored letters across its front has been emblematic of this country’s upper crust. It bespeaks old money, Ivy League, trust funds, privileges of birth, fox hunting, debutante balls, yachting, polo, distinguished forebears, family compounds in the Adirondacks, and a pedigree studded with 19th-century robber barons. In short, it has symbolized the American aristocracy.

There’s just one catch: While being listed in the Social Register may bestow a leg up in life, traditionally it has been bad form to discuss it or tell anyone you belong to it. Indeed, as one doyenne of the debutante scene explained a few weeks after the Chicago affair, much of the organization’s mystique seems predicated on a kind of upper-class omertà. “Are we allowed to even talk about the register?” responded Lydia Butcher, the executive director of Philadelphia’s gauzy Charity Ball, when asked about her membership.

Butcher had this ethic drilled into her as a child. “My parents were exchanging addresses with another couple when I was about 11 years old,” she recalled. “I wanted to show how much I knew, so I blurted out, ‘You can look us up in the Social Register.’ ” At that, she said, her mother chastised her sternly. “Don’t ever again tell anyone we’re in the register,” she scolded.

But what’s the fun of belonging to an elite society if nobody knows it or if there’s no way to recognize others of your elevated caste?

The Social Register has no secret

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bringing members—“the right sort,” he said—together.

“The Chicago event was the first time we’d ever hosted an event for members, and it was wildly successful,” said Wolf. “We didn’t know how our subscribers would respond. We expected 40 or 50 to turn out, and we got over 175.”

That was just the beginning.

Similar mixers are scheduled in other major U.S. cities, and a Social Register clubhouse is planned for Manhattan. “It will be a convivial place for members to use while in town,” said Wolf, “to gather with friends, have drinks, hold meetings, and to research genealogy records.”

handshake and no club tie. You don’t want to pronounce your socially registered status on your résumé or business card, and people will look at you funny if you slip it into conversation: “Hold on a minute. Let me check my Social Register.”

We might wonder, in an era of unbridled connectivity—when every day brings a flood of would-be friends over the Internet and you can tap into entire libraries from your iPhone—who needs an institution one step removed from a Rolodex to affirm your station in life?

Yet as the association’s chairman explains, it is precisely the restrained human element that gives the Social Register its unique flavor. “We’re experiencing an upsurge in applications for membership,” said Wolf.

“Individuals and families want to be part of a nice, dignified, low-key, and friendly association as opposed to the cynical ‘metadata-mining’ commercial operations.”

It doesn’t hurt that the Social Register comprises a disproportionate share of very wealthy members.

“Our members represent well over $1 trillion in net worth, but there are also many, many talented families in the arts, design, entertainment,

culture, education, and civics,” said Wolf. “Every edition of the Social Register carries the quote from Thomas Jefferson: ‘Let us in education dream of an aristocracy of achievement arising out of a democracy of opportunity.’ ” It’s a noble sentiment, yet it hasn’t cost the register any of its exclusivity.

According to Wolf, who acquired the association from the Forbes family in 2014, the register contains the same number of member families as it did in 1934—about 25,000—while the U.S. population has tripled since then to 325 million. “So we’re more exclusive than ever,” he noted.

More remarkably, while some see the Social Register as the symbol of an immutable, stodgy caste system, there are signs that the stereotype is giving way to something the old establishment never envisioned: The register is becoming social.

Under the stewardship of publisher Malcolm Forbes, who acquired the association in 1976 and consolidated the individual city books into a single publication, the Social Register seemed to keep members at arm’s length of each other. It’s not an exaggeration to say that under Wolf the association is

he social Register’s roots can be traced to an arcane 19thcentury custom called visiting lists. They held the alphabetically arranged names (and addresses) of prominent New York families—mostly of English and Dutch origin.

In 1886, New York manabout-town Louis Keller consolidated the most important of these lists into one. His register was a smash, and by 1918 there were 18 annual volumes representing 26 cities.

It wasn’t long before “Social Register” became a popular catchphrase, and the book became recognizable in ways Keller had never intended. In a 1930s ad, Pepsi-Cola didn’t tout its flavor but rather its status as “the Social Register of Drinks.” During that same era, the Cunard Line boasted that its passenger lists combined the Hall of Fame with the Social Register, while a competing ocean liner, North German Lloyd, insisted its passenger lists were “more than ever the transatlantic Social Register.”

Hollywood exploited the new class consciousness early on with story lines inspired by the association.

There was the Our Gang silent movie of the 1920s called Social Register, and then came the 1931 play The Social Register, in which a highsociety playboy becomes smitten with a working-class woman and hilarity ensues. A film version was released 3 years later. Popular culture didn’t always treat the Social Register crowd kindly. In one episode of Gilligan’s Island, the ditzy socialite Lovey Howell complains, “I don’t know how we’re going to explain to our friends that we spent several years with people who aren’t even in the Social Register.”

There is something to what Mrs. Howell said. While the rest of the country has become increasingly mobile, America’s blue bloods tend to gravitate toward the same orbits as their forebears did, attending the same schools, joining the same private clubs, and excelling in arcane sports such as royal tennis—a pastime favored by Henry VIII—and racquets, a rarer and more dangerous version of squash.

“If you want to move in certain circles, the Social Register gives you credibility,” said David Rawson, the founder of a private bank in Philadelphia. He divides his time between his sprawling estate outside Philadelphia and his tony flat in the 16th arrondissement in Paris. Rawson first became acquainted with the register while a freshman at Princeton. “My two roommates were in the book, and they used to talk about it all the time. They said the first thing a mother will do when her daughter has a new beau is look him up in the register to see if he’s for real.”

Conversely, as one veteran of the “stud line”—a name given to the corps of debutante escorts— observed, the Social Register is the Swiss Army knife of directories. “It’s a handy tool. Let’s say it’s 3 am, and you’ve been drinking, and you’re wondering what ever happened to some bygone girlfriend,” he said.

“Well, you pick up the Social Register, and there’s everything you need to know—whether she’s been married and to whom and when, whether she has kids or not, where she went to

college, her address, and, best of all, her phone number. You won’t find that kind of stuff on the web.”

ssuming your intentions are honorable, there are several ways of getting into the Social Register. The preferred way is to be born in, which leaves no doubt about your bona fides. The youngster may then remain a junior member until age 21. A second avenue to membership, popular among impoverished European nobles and assorted fortune hunters, is marriage, which automatically

bestows membership on the lesser-pedigreed spouse and eventually their children. The third is to be sponsored, which requires the applicant to assemble as many as five letters from current members praising their friend’s philanthropy, unflagging taste, and discretion.

Though presumed by many to be the last bastion of snobbish WASPdom, the register includes members who are not white, Anglo-Saxon, or Protestant. Still, the standards for inclusion remain rigid and arbitrary.

The members of a 25-person advisory board—anonymous, of course—simply ask themselves one question when evaluating a candidate: Would I want to have dinner with this person on a regular basis?

You can only imagine the exquisite torture of waiting to hear whether you’re in or out. “We don’t send out letters of rejection,” said Wolf. “After a while, the candidates will simply realize they haven’t been admitted.”

If accepted, the applicant can claim kinship with Julia Child, Andrew Carnegie, Geoffrey Holder, George Plimpton, David Rockefeller, Hiram Bingham, Henry Kissinger, Oscar de la Renta, Richard Byrd, Chevy Chase, and every president since Ulysses S. Grant. Now that he is president, Donald Trump will be invited to join, even though his billionaire status had not earned him entry beforehand.

But it’s hard to say how membership will change your life. Your mailbox may fill up with invitations to posh affairs of all sorts. Your picture might appear in your local newspaper’s society pages. Your daughters could be invited to make their debut while your sons are welcomed into the stud line. But one thing is certain: You’ll have no lack of reading to do, because the association produces a number of publications aimed at enriching a subscriber’s life.

Under Wolf’s direction, the association reintroduced the Locator, which Forbes discontinued in 1976 when he consolidated all the city books into a single Social Register.

The Locator offers the ease of locating members by country, state, and city, and then alphabetically within zip code. It can be especially helpful for travelers seeking the company of fellow members.

The main Social Register publication is the biennial winter edition, which comprises about a thousand parchment-like pages crammed with vital statistics: family names and addresses, memberships in clubs and societies, academic affiliations, and notices of births, marriages, and deaths.

Other Social Register publications regale readers with party pictures, profiles of prominent members, stories of interest to collectors and gourmets, and reports of weddings with pictures of brides and grooms and sometimes grooms and grooms.

“Same-sex weddings are the kind of thing the old register never used to mention, but we do now,” said Wolf.

“It’s just one of the ways we’re working to stay relevant to our members. If you don’t change, you fall behind.”

Social Register Association, socialregisteronline.com

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SHANGHAI J A N U A R Y

MAT THIEU FORICHON

2 0 1 8

Time Well Spent

SHANGHAI A visit to China’s ever-expanding financial capital is a journey to the past, present, and future.

By Laurie Werner

4

5

2

1

The city of the future is getting nostalgic.

Sure, the home of sky-piercing towers, mega shopping centers, and more humans than any other city on Earth could double for the set of Blade Runner 2049, but lately Shanghai seems to be changing its tune. ¶ For evidence of the new pared-down approach in this capital of excess, look no further than Amanyangyun (aman.com), set to open this month as the city’s most anticipated new hotel. You won’t find it atop a gleaming skyscraper 162

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3

or teetering on the edge of the congested Bund; instead, the 37-room property occupies a collection of Ming- and Qing-dynasty structures in the quiet Minhang District. In lieu of neon-infused city views, the hotel will overlook a 1,000-year-old camphor forest and offer traditional tea service.

Aman isn’t the only one looking to the past to build Shanghai’s future. The lavish Cantonese Sense 8 1 pays tribute to Hong Kong’s famous Luk Yu tea house with antique chinoiserie and intricate woodwork embellished by artisans who worked on the Forbidden City’s restoration. Club 3 1/3 2 (club3n13.com) is the city’s answer to the global speakeasy trend with belle-epoque style and a strict

dress code. Ateliers like Han Feng (hanfeng.com) and Spin Ceramics (spinceramics.com) are dipping into the past too, with the former applying modern cuts to traditional Chinese silks and the latter creating elegant and organic versions of the classic porcelain tea set.

Of course, modernity will never fall out of fashion in flashy Shanghai—a glimpse at the skyline filled with cranes and shiny new architectural feats is all the proof anyone needs of that. It’s also a testament that the true allure of this beguiling city lies in its inherent dualities: glamorous and gritty, traditional and innovative, ultramodern and oldschool all at the same time.

“JeanGeorges’s Mercato is the most beautiful, elegant option in Shanghai.”

MIMI TUNG

LOCAL FAVORITES

FABIEN VERDIER

STAY

EAT

DRINK

SHOP

DO

The Park Hyatt Shanghai for its privacy (it has a separate lift for hotel guests), Zen feeling, ultraprofessional staff, and mind-blowing swimming pool.

Da Hu Chun early in the morning for typical Shanghai breakfast; Villa Lebec, my favorite French restaurant in a beautiful villa; and Mr. and Mrs. Bund—I opened it with Paul Pairet and it’s now an institution.

Speak Low—master Shingo Gokan is one of the greatest bartenders in the world. Stay on the second floor with the festive crowd or try to get access to the third floor, where the most exclusive cocktails are made. If you press the right city on a map, the door opens.

The IAPM luxury mall on vibrant Huaihai Middle Road has all of the latest trendy shops and a steak house with a beautiful terrace called the Cut that’s become my canteen.

I love to run on the Pudong side of the Huangpu River; it’s great for a walk, too.

Take a boat across from the Bund and then choose your direction: south toward the Expo site or north toward the Oriental Pearl Tower.

I really like the Pudong Shangri-La—always a classic—and the Andaz Xintiandi Shanghai is in a great central location with good food options.

Goodfellas for Italian or Lost Heaven (Yunnan cuisine) to take visiting friends. For American evenings, I like Liquid Laundry or Americanstyle breakfasts at Diner

by Austin Hu.

Senator, a small speakeasy; Heyday or Shake for live jazz; and weekends at Club 3 1/3 to dance and enjoy top-quality drinks and house music.

IAPM is a great mall for shopping; also IFC in Pudong.

On days off, strolling around the French Concession is my favorite pastime. Also hanging out at coffee shops like Blatage and Café del Volcán.

My favorites are the PuLi Hotel and Spa, which is a hidden gem in the center of the city; the Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai at Pudong, which is a classic, top quality; and the new W Shanghai—the Bund, which is modern, fun, and has a fantastic Bund view.

Jean-Georges’s Mercato 3 is the most beautiful, elegant option in Shanghai.

Hakkasan at Bund 18 has lively, top-quality Chinese food and a sexy ambience.

When I’m not at Club 3 1/3, I go to Unico, which is Latin themed; M1nt, which has global touring DJs and a lavish ambience; or VUE bar at Hyatt on the Bund for an amazing view of the Bund.

I like Spin 4 for Chinese ceramics at affordable prices and Dong Liang, a shop that carries local designers.

I love walking along the Bund in the evening and visiting MAM Riverbank during the day. I also enjoy the outdoor activities along the river.

To taste the real flavors of the city, Fu 1039 [serves] top-notch Shanghai cuisine in a beautiful old mansion.

The Nest, a great place near the Bund for a drink after work.

Liquid Laundry for good cocktails and international-flavored nosh with creative influences from Shanghainese cooking.

The K11 Art Mall on Huaihai Middle Road is a venue for art enthusiasts and exhibitions but also presents a great mix of innovative merchants, from food to fashion to gadgets.

MAO Livehouse in Xuhui is a must-stop-by place for music lovers. It’s one of the most active concert venues in Shanghai, and performance genre ranges from pop to rock to electronic and raves.

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, THE CHOP CHOP CLUB/UNICO SHANGHAI

DEREK YU

ILLUSTRATIONS: G ARY WILLIAM MUSGRAVE; OPPOSITE PAGE, NO. 5: SUI SICONG

CEO, MODERN ART MUSEUM SHANGHAI

MIMI TUNG OWNER, CLUB 3 1/3

JISOO CHON GENERAL MANAGER, THE PENINSULA SHANGHAI

Apart from the Peninsula, I’m really looking forward to the opening of Amanyangyun 5 — that’s the style of hotel I am most in favor of.

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Time Well Spent SHANGHAI

Yuz Museum

Going West ONCE AN INDUSTRIAL

barrens blighted by aircraft manufacturers and factories, the 6-mile stretch of Xuhui waterfront known as the West Bund (westbund.com) has recently been rebranded as Shanghai’s contemporary-art core. In the last few years alone, the row has seen the arrival of major institutions like the Long Museum West Bund (thelongmuseum.org)—the private museum of billionaire investor and collector Liu Yiqian—and the Yuz Museum (yuzmshanghai.org), which counts among its recent exhibitions a show of Andy Warhol’s Shadows series and a retrospective for the pop artist Kaws. A number of firsts have landed here as well, from the Shanghai Center of Photography (scop.org.cn), China’s

only museum dedicated solely to photography, to the Power Station of Art (powerstation ofart.org), mainland China’s first state-run contemporaryart museum. An influx of galleries has also helped to transform the district: ShanghArt (shanghartgallery .com)—one of the city’s most influential galleries, known for catapulting the careers of artists like Zeng Fanzhi—relocated to the West Bund in late 2016, while MadeIn Gallery (madein gallery.com) represents the country’s newest clique of cutting-edge creatives, among them the digital disrupter Ying Miao.

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Shanghai Nights A M A N YA N GY U N M AY B E M A K I N G WAV E S F O R I T S

everything-old-is-new-again approach, but it’s not alone. The Capella Shanghai (capellahotels.com) has gone for the traditional treatment as well, opening in the French Concession last September in a cluster of circa-1930s brick-and-stone shikumen (townhouses). The low-slung retreat is a welcome respite from the local high-rise havoc, offering elegant residences decorated with a blend of 19th-century French and traditional Chinese art and antiques.

Look up and you’ll find plenty of contemporary new overnight options, too. Set to debut on January 8 in the city’s historic Dazhongli neighborhood, the Middle House (the-house-collective

.com)—a sibling of Hong Kong’s Upper House and Beijing’s Opposite House—will be pure modern-chic thanks to a slick design by Milan’s Piero Lissoni. Two more Italian masters, Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel, are behind the forthcoming Bulgari Hotel Shanghai (bulgarihotels.com), which will soon bring a fashionable Italian restaurant and 21,528-square-foot spa to the city’s riverfront. Outposts of Ian Schrager’s trendy Edition, Las Vegas’s showy Bellagio, and Europe’s beloved Rocco Forte Hotels are also in the works for the coming year. And just opened are the St. Regis Shanghai Jingan and W Shanghai (starwoodhotels.com), the latter of which offers some of the most impressive Bund views we’ve ever seen from its rooftop lounge and pool.

Highbrow Goes Casual SHANGHAI HAS THE

haute-cuisine routine down by now. Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Pierre Gagnaire, and Joël Robuchon have all brought big-name gastronomy to the Bund and beyond, and local celebrity chefs like Justin Tan (of the city’s first Michelin three-star restaurant, T’ang Court) have given further credence to the city’s fine-dining domain. But some of the hottest new tables are the ones you don’t need a reservation for, as more casual cuisine from hometown favorites dresses down for dinner.

Alvin Leung, of Hong Kong’s Michelin three-star Bo Innovation, recently

Bulgari Hotel Shanghai

Chop Chop Club

opened Daimon Gastrolounge (volgroup.com.cn), the Bund’s edgy lounge and restaurant where the music is loud and the dim sum daring (don’t miss the cherry duck). Paul Pairet, the French-born, Shanghai-based star behind the city’s Michelin three-star Ultraviolet, is also loosening up with his Chop Chop Club (unicoshanghai.com), a carvery concept where dishes like côte de boeuf and charroasted chicken are listed on an airport-style departures board. Meanwhile, master mixologist and proprietor Shingo Gokan has opened a follow-up to his acclaimed Speak Low speakeasy: Sober Company opened last year with a menu chock-full of elevated comfort foods like mapo tofu with foie gras in a laidback setting that could double for lower Manhattan.

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Articles of Taste CASE STUDY

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Articles of Taste

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RUMPLES, RESISTED Avoid an unkempt arrival with these fresh blazers—each made to thwart the wrinkles that often come with jet-setting.

2 POLO RALPH LAUREN This wool blazer’s hand-sewn shoulders and rolled lapels give it a relaxed yet refined look—plus the suede undercollar helps maintain the jacket’s shape on long-haul flights ($895). Brighten it up with a white cotton Kingsman shirt by Turnbull & Asser ($495). mrporter.com

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ZONES OF INFLUENCE These timepieces offer stylish and sophisticated time-zone displays for frequent fliers.

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“Time travels in diverse paces with diverse persons.”

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JANUARY 2018

1 JAEGERLECOULTRE This new limited-run Master Geographic has a secondary time-zone subdial that can be quick-set via the crown at 10 o’clock—a welcome convenience for those who frequently travel east and west. jaeger -lecoultre.com ($9,400)

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3 CZAPEK GENÈVE Czapek presents a more classical approach to the travel watch, albeit with a unique twist. The Place Vendôme positions a second time-zone indication off-center from the dial, making room to display its exposed tourbillon. czapek.com ($92,600)

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FLAIR TRAVEL Gear to help take the bite out of long flights.

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2 LORO PIANA Getting sound sleep on a plane can make or break a flight. Loro Piana’s travel collection includes a plane pillow, a blanket, and an eyeshade—each made using ultrasoft baby cashmere. loropiana .com ($400–$2,450)

3 ATELIER COLOGNE Inspired by the ambience of a jazz club, Tobacco Nuit has notes of Turkish tobacco flower and Italian clementine.

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TIME PIECE

“Our company purchased the yacht because of its rich history, unique character, and classic style.”

— E D UA R D O D I E Z J R . , Q UA SA R E X P E D I T I O N S

Presented in 1953

vessel remained in his charter fleet for a couple of years until he gave it to Prince Rainier and Princess Grace, who enjoyed the gift until 1958.

The vessel changed hands several more times, traveling to the Caribbean and the East Coast of the United States. In 2007, Quasar Expeditions (866.481.7790, quasarex.com) bought the boat to charter in the Galápagos and bestowed its current moniker, Grace. “Our company purchased the yacht because of its rich history, unique character, and classic style. We knew it was going to add a whole new element to a Galápagos cruising experience that no other ship on the islands could offer,” says Eduardo Diez Jr., commercial director for Quasar Expeditions. “It is probably now one of the most sought-after products in the archipelago.”

The yacht was relaunched in October and cruises two different itineraries in the Galápagos Islands. Pricing for the regular season starts at $127,000 for the entire vessel, which accommodates 18 guests in nine cabins plus crew for seven nights and eight days; $6,600 per person for a deluxe stateroom; and $8,900 per person for the newly renovated Grace Kelly Suite.

to Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco by Aristotle Onassis as a wedding gift, this 147-foot yacht, which the royals christened Deo Juvente II, served as a honeymoon cocoon during the couple’s nuptial cruise along the coasts of Sardinia and Corsica. Yet this romantic voyage was but a short chapter in the vessel’s storied history.

Deo Juvente II was originally owned by Franco-Argentinean Jacques “Santiago” Soulas and launched in 1928 by Camper & Nicholsons. Soulas named the vessel Monica after his daughter. Four years later, the Soulas family sold the yacht, which then changed hands several times before being acquired by the British Royal Navy in 1939.

During its stint in the military, the yacht—then named Rion—was stripped of its finery, reinforced, and fitted with a 12-pound quick-firing gun on the forecastle, a couple of 40 mm Oerlikons next to the bridge, and a rack on the stern to hold eight 300-pound depth charges. After World War II, the vessel was decommissioned and returned to Camper & Nicholsons to be restored to its former opulence.

Aristotle Onassis bought HMS Noir in 1951 and rechristened it Arion. The

—Danielle Cutler

THE TIMELINE OCEANGOING EVOLUTION

8 1953

1 1928 Launched as Monica in Southampton, England,

by Camper & Nicholsons, the 147-foot craft was named after owner Jacques “Santiago” Soulas’s daughter.

2 1932 The vessel is rechristened Rion by new owner Zarch Couyoumbian.

3 1938 Prudential Insurance chairman George Tilley purchases the yacht.

4 1939 The British Royal Navy requisitions the vessel for wartime use.

5 1941 After some damage to the port engine, Rion becomes

part of the Royal Navy Hospital.

6 1947 The vessel is returned to prewar owner George Tilley after its restoration at Camper & Nicholsons.

7 1951 The charter company of Aristotle Onassis acquires the yacht and names it Arion.

Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco receive the yacht as a wedding gift from Onassis and rename it Deo Juvente II. Winston Churchill is one of the couple’s many illustrious guests.

9 1958 A Monegasque businessman buys the vessel, which he calls Daska.

10 1960 The vessel is transported to the Bahamas by Crest Shipping and then to Montego Bay by Cove Shipping. Its new moniker is Angela.

11 1983 The yacht’s name reverts to Daska, and it is seized by the Jamaican government.

12 1985 SuperClubs chairman John

Issa purchases the vessel, changes its name to Zein, and refits it in Tampa, Fla.

13 2007 Quasar Expedition buys Zein and rechristens it Grace.

14 2017 During Grace’s latest refurbishment, the apartment where Prince Rainier and Princess Grace honeymooned is remade into the Grace Kelly Suite.

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Miracle on 41st Street.

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