Vol.8 No.2
Turning moments into memories
Marvelous Makati Filipino flavor in Asia’s hottest new destination
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Pro tennis in Acapulco A fragrant French journey Napa Valley bids big
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Vol.8 No.2
Fairmont Magazine
34 cov er story
Live the experience
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to find out what Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has in store for you this season. You’ll discover exclusive news and offers to fit each of your passions.
Perfecting Pinoy
Manila’s exploding culinary scene is just one reason the glittering Asian metropolis is the place to be right now. By Remy Scalza
Vol.8 No.2
D E PA RT M E N T S
14 Contributors 15 Check In
Travel, fashion & lifestyle.
81
Check Out
The design team at Fairmont The Palm makes the mashrabiya their own. f eat u res
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30
La Vie en Rose
44
Order on the Court
48
It Takes a Valley
56
Away We Go
62
Out of This World
Join the rose harvest in France and journey from bud to bottle in the creation of Fairmont’s new lobby fragrance. By Denyse Beaulieu trip to Acapulco reveals an understated A tennis haven, where amateurs mingle with the pros. By Neal McLennan
In California wine country, the year’s biggest party eschews bling and ball gowns for good food, philanthropy and a little healthy competition. By Eve Thomas
Packing essentials for classic weekend getaways. Photos by Luis Albuquerque and, sea and a whole lot of fantasy went L into the winning shots from this year’s Flash Forward photography contest.
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photos: richmond lam (napa); ed wright (roses); caviar russe (caviar)
Fa i rm o nt H o te l s & R es o rts
12 68 70 72 74 76 78 79
President’s Letter Arts & Entertainment Spa & Fitness Food & Drink Sports & Adventure Shopping & Style Leadership & Philanthropy Fairmont Destinations
I S S N 19 25 - 4121
25 On the cover Fairmont Makati’s Sunday Champagne Brunch, photographed by Remy Scalza
President’s Letter
President’s Letter —
t
here has always been something to celebrate at Fairmont. Now, as part of one of the fastest-growing luxury hotel groups in the world, there are more reasons (and ways) to revel all around the globe, whether you want to live like the locals, play like the pros or give back to the communities you visit. This issue’s cover story explores one of our newest properties, Fairmont Makati, through a sumptuous feast across the capital city of Manila. Filipino cuisine, from street eats to fine dining, is a foodie trend on the rise and proves to be a unique way to explore the region’s vibrant history and culture. Across the Pacific Ocean at The Fairmont Acapulco Princess, we arrive just in time for the 20th Mexican Open, Latin America’s most illustrious tennis event. The hotel has hosted the competition since 2001, and even when it’s not in town, guests flock to the property to work on their game with resident pros. Next we take you on a journey to Fairmont Monte Carlo and the rose fields of Grasse, France, where you’ll get a rare peek at what’s going into the creation of our signature lobby scent and Rose 31 amenities by perfume house Le Labo. After all, you don’t always need to be checked into a Fairmont to experience the brand’s reputation for luxury and local knowledge – you’ll also find the Fairmont name supporting community initiatives and cultural endeavors all over the world. Explore the recently renovated Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa before taking a drive to neighboring Napa for the wine world’s biggest charity bash: Auction Napa Valley, a multiday celebration of local food, wine and philanthropy that Fairmont is proud to support. Or travel to our hotels in Boston, USA, and Toronto, Canada, to take part in art shows, curator talks and parties during the Flash Forward festival. Flip through the winning images we’ve featured and you’ll understand why Fairmont is honored to showcase these emerging young photographers from North America and the United Kingdom. Fairmont hotels and resorts have always enjoyed a global reputation for excellence, and our remarkable growth makes it more widespread than ever, especially in Asia and the Middle East. In addition to recently opened properties, including Fairmont The Palm in Dubai and Fairmont Nanjing, look for us soon in Taiyuan, Riyadh and Jakarta (to name a few). Whether you’re a local welcoming a Fairmont to your home country or a traveler who can’t wait to check in somewhere new, you’ll find something to celebrate.
Jennifer Fox
President, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
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Fairmont Magazine
S AN FRAN C IS C O NOW OP EN OUR F L AG SH IP STORE U N IO N S Q UA R E 240 Po s t S tre et, S a n Fr a n c i s c o, CA (415) 402 • 0476 For additional store locations visit BrooksBrothers.com
Contributors Fairmont Magazine
Remy Scalza
Vol.8 No.2 Editor
Natasha Mekhail fairmontmagazine@spafax.com Editorial Associate Editor
Art Acting Art Director
Editorial Assistant
Graphic Designer
Copy Editor
Production Production Director
Eve Thomas
Christine Houde Nicole Noon
Stephanie McBride Melissa Edwards
Joelle Irvine
Fact Checker
Richard Swain
Production Manager
Jaclyn Irvine
Online Editor
Jasmin Legatos
Proofreader
Jane Pavanel
fairmontmagazine.com
Contributors Luis Albuquerque, Denyse Beaulieu, Mike Berson, Tina Chang, Marcello Di Cintio, Bruno Dubois, Roger Fleet, Carolyn Gallyer, Toshi Kawano, Sam Kientsch, Richmond Lam, Neal McLennan, Renée Morrison, Lisa Movius, Luc Normandin, Daniel Onori, Sonia Roy, Julie Saindon, Remy Scalza, Chantal Tranchemontagne, Ed Wright © Copyright 2013 by Spafax Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission of the publisher is prohibited. Fairmont Magazine is published twice per year by Spafax Inc. Points of view expressed do not necessarily represent those of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. The publisher reserves the right to accept or reject all advertising matter. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of unsolicited art, photographs or manuscripts. Printed in Canada.
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Senior Vice President, Marketing Executive Director, Brand Development & Global Partnerships
President, International & Fairmont Brand
Jennifer Fox
Alexandra Blum
Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer
Jeff Senior
Writer Since following her nose to Paris 25 years ago, Canadian writer Denyse Beaulieu has become one of the world’s foremost experts on scent. She’s the fragrance editor for Citizen K magazine, runs the industry-leading blog Grain de Musc and recently published The Perfume Lover: A Personal History of Scent. In “La Vie en Rose” (p. 30) find her taking in the fragrant rose fields of Grasse.
Sean Taggart
William R. Fatt
Michelle Crosby
Denyse Beaulieu
Managers, Brand Development & Global Partnerships
Luis Albuquerque
Christal Agostino, Diana Wetherly, Carolyn Dixon
Photographer For more than 15 years, Portugal-born, Toronto-raised photographer Luis Albuquerque has shot for a roster of clients that includes Holt Renfrew, Aldo, enRoute and Experience, Bombardier’s magazine for private jet owners. For this issue, he practices his packing skills in “Away We Go” (p. 56), which should come in handy on his upcoming vacation: a beach getaway to Cyprus.
Coordinator, Public Relations
Danielle Fatt
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts RBC Centre, 155 Wellington St. W., Suite 3300, Toronto, ON M5V 0C3 Canada +1 416 874 2600, fairmont.com, frhi.com
PRESIDENT, content Marketing
Raymond Girard
executive vice PRESIDENT, content Marketing
Nino Di Cara
Vice President, Finance and Operations
Paula Pergantis
Content DIRECTOR
North America Canada National Sales Manager
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Fairmont Magazine
Writer, Photographer Award-winning journalist Remy Scalza has written for the likes of The New York Times and National Geographic Traveler on everything from gaucho cowboy culture in Argentina to consumerism in Kuwait. For this issue of Fairmont Magazine he traveled to Manila to explore the new frontier of Filipino cuisine in “Perfecting Pinoy” (p. 34).
Neal McLennan
Writer Western Living Food & Travel editor Neal McLennan left his home turf in Vancouver, Canada, for Acapulco, Mexico, to write “Order on the Court” (p. 44). While fine-tuning his game and watching pro tennis matches was a plus, the real clincher was getting to meet tennis great (and tournament winner) Rafael Nadal. Next up for McLennan is a trip to the wilds of Namibia.
Vol.8 No.2
Check In tr avel, fashion & lifest yle
Live the experience ——
pag e 6 8
Toronto, Canada, has cemented its reputation as a hotbed of retrofit architecture, with Daniel Libeskind’s
photo: AGO
deconstructivist “Crystal” addition to the Royal Ontario Museum and Will Alsop’s Sharp Centre for Design, an art school on stilts straddling an existing building. But the city’s crowning old-meets-new achievement is arguably the Art Gallery of Ontario, lauded as much for its design as for its programming. Originally established in 1900, the AGO was revamped by Toronto’s homegrown starchitect, Frank Gehry, in 2008, debuting a striking glass-and-wood facade and this grand, 138-step staircase clad in Douglas fir. Recent exhibitions include the only Canadian stop on the North American tour of Ai Weiwei: According to What? and Marina Abramovic’s famous-for-being-dangerous performance-art video, Rest Energy (on view until mid-December 2013). Much like these spiral stairs, it’s not for the queasy. Eve Thomas
Global Cocoa (p. 16), TEA TIPS (p. 17), unique yoga (p. 19), SHANGHAI SHOPPING (p. 20), SALT-AND-PEPPER BEAUTY (p. 22), APRÈS-SKI STYLE (p. 23), BUSINESS TRAVEL SAVVY (p. 24), CAVIAR REVIVAL (p. 25), SEA-TO-SKY ROAD TRIP (p. 26) Fairmont Magazine
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Travelogue
Sweet Souvenirs
The world’s love of chocolate has always transcended international barriers, and these global gourmet treats make memories that melt in your mouth.
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1. Stone ground chocolate bars, Olive & Sinclair, USA, US$7, oliveandsinclair.com; 2. Chocolate truffles, Cao, Canada, US$6, saveurscao.com; 3. Assorted dark chocolate bars, Casa Bosques, Mexico, US$10, casabosques.net; 4. Chocolate bar bundles, Amelia Rope, UK, US$9, ameliarope.com; 5. Sea salt trio, Ghirardelli, USA, US$9, ghirardelli.com; 6. Gourmet chocolates, Patchi, Lebanon, US$127/box, patchi.com; 7. Candied popcorn, Joe & Seph’s, UK, US$15, joeandsephs.co.uk; 8. Gift box, Cao, US$34 Stephanie McBride
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Fairmont Magazine
photo: luis albuquerque; styling: daniel onori
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Three Steps
A New Leaf
Think outside the bag with master tea blender Gerry Vandergrift’s tips and twists on the traditional cuppa.
1/ Spice it Live the experience ——
photo: the metropolitan tea company (Gerry Vandergrift)
pag e 75
The Metropolitan Tea Company
Gerry Vandergrift’s wholesale retailer provides more than 700 types of tea to companies around the world, including Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. Each leaf and ingredient is harvested at its peak season (and often vacuumpacked at the source) to ensure optimal flavor. METROTEA.COM
Personalize your cup with your favorite herbs and spices. “Egyptians often add fresh mint leaves to black tea and Indians add spices to make masala chai,” says Gerry Vandergrift, founder of The Metropolitan Tea Company. “Try adding cardamom, ginger, coriander, cinnamon or even black pepper to your brew. It generally works best with black tea, like Fairmont Breakfast, but you could use green tea as well.”
2/Eat it
Take advantage of tea’s health benefits with powdered maccha – no hot water required. “Our research shows that Kenyan white maccha has almost three times the antioxidant levels of steeped green tea. Many people find it too strong to brew, but it’s easy to sprinkle on yogurt or a smoothie.”
3/ Blend it
Chilled tea makes a great substitute for syrups and juices in many cocktails. “Prepare a fruity tea, like the Fairmont Berry Berry, then blend it with vodka, ice and sugar,” suggests Vandergrift. “Another great drink is the Fairmont Breakfast tea with lemon slices and coconut rum.”
Renée Morrison
Fairmont Magazine
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Thrill Seeker
o n L o c a t i o n
Beyond the Mat
Stretch your limits on the ground and in the air with tips from Fairmont’s yoga experts.
p r o t i p s
is an offshoot of the circus arts. The ‘hammocks’ use the same fabric as Cirque du Soleil. It’s really fun if you want a change from the usual yoga poses.”
“Aerial yoga
what you want from yoga – relaxation, flexibility, strength – and then choose a style. If you’re goaloriented, you’re more likely to stick with it, even on vacation.”
“Figure out
“Early-morning
Sierra Ramm
Amanda Schmidt
Susie Young
Yoga and movement supervisor Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, Arizona
Yoga instructor Fairmont Washington, D.C., Georgetown
t o p
illustrations: Luc Normandin
classes on the beach let you watch the sun rise over the turquoise water. It’s quiet and relaxing, with amazing views. Plus the sand provides a balance challenge.” Fitness specialist The Fairmont Southampton, Bermuda
Live the experience ——
g e a r
pag e 7 1
stop yoga mat slips in style. Yogitoes rSweatless towel, US$64, yogitoes.com
A BPA‑free water bottle with a conscience. Bamboo Bottle Co. water bottle, US$20, bamboobottleco.com
French terry cloth feels cozy while keeping you cool. Reebok Yoga Hoodie, US$60, reebok.com
Fairmont Magazine
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Street View
China by Design
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photos: nobleIMAGES/Alamy (this page); Hemis/Alamy (ShanghART)
Find Shanghai’s answer to SoHo at 50 Moganshan Road, aka M50: a compound of 1930s factories and warehouses converted into a flourishing arts district.
Fairmont Magazine
Street View ShanghART
moreless
Best for Contemporary Chinese Art
Established in 1996, ShanghART is the oldest contemporary art gallery in Shanghai and one of the original founding members of M50. The space represents more than 40 top Chinese artists, including Ji Wenyu and photographic collective Bird Head, and continues to serve as a hub for the district. Petit Musée de l’Art
50 MOGANSHAN LU, BUILDINGS 16 AND 18, SHANGHART.COM
Best for Handmade Gifts Local and international design-
ers create original and limited-edition pieces for the Petit Musée de l’Art. Clunky, funky abstract jewelry and rocker leather skull backpacks join clothing and accessories hand-painted in florals by French-Chinese owner Florence Wang. 50 MOGANSHAN LU, BUILDING 13, 1F, PmlART.COM
Best for Asian Art Deco Shanghai’s role as an East-meets-
West trading port in the first half of the 20th century resulted in its own lauded Art Deco style. Museum-caliber examples of the Shanghainese take on the day’s designs are available at this store (conveniently named Art Deco), owned by local artist Ding Yi. 50 MOGANSHAN LU, BUILDING 7, 1F
Best for Modern Housewares Asian aesthetics get a
modern, minimalist reinterpretation in the furniture, accessories and lighting of MoreLess. Its five Chinese, Italian and French designers explore subtle simplicity in eco-friendly materials like walnut, copper, rattan and porcelain. 50 MOGANSHAN LU, BUILDING 17, Room 106, MORE-LESS.CN
Best for Drinks and Music Composer Liu Xing established
Bandu Records in 2003 to capture both fading traditional Chinese music and its evolving fusion with modern styles. Bandu Café followed a year later, selling albums, hosting shows and serving as M50’s coolest spot for coffee, cakes and cocktails. 50 MOGANSHAN LU, BUILDING 11, 1F, BANDUMUSIC.COM
Lisa Movius
Fairmont Magazine
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In Balance Live the experience ——
pag e 7 1
In a Pinch
w
hat could be simpler than salt and pepper? Just a sprinkle or a dash can make any dish shine, but they also provide the perfect touch to your skin-care regimen. On the salty side, find Kerstin Florian’s muscle-soothing Mineral Wellness Soak. It contains sun-dried, hand-harvested salts comprising 60 essential minerals and trace elements, including calcium and colloidal silver, a natural antiseptic. Salt is also the not-so-secret ingredient in Clarisea, a line of products developed by Alison Carton when she noticed that swimming in the ocean soothed her breakouts.
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Fairmont Magazine
After experimenting with dozens of salts, she settled on a mix of Pacific and Himalayan. On the flip side, find invigorating pepper oil in Shiffa Dubai’s basil, mint and black pepper body wash, as well as in Molton Brown’s Re-charge line, which includes an exfoliating body bar studded with peppercorns. For extra tingle, book the Willow Stream Spa Wisdom treatment at Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai. The signature experience includes a Sichuan-pepper body scrub made locally and exclusively for the spa. For the best results, try a bit of both in your beauty routine – just season to taste. Eve Thomas
Salt (clockwise): KieHL’s Lavender foaming-relaxing bath with sea salts and aloe vera, US$30, kiehls.com; Kerstin Florian mineral wellness soak, US$41, kerstinflorianusa.com; Clarisea Instant glow powder exfoliant, US$25, clarisea.com; ener-g mineral body scrub, US$45, fairmontstore.com; L’Occitane Verbena body salt scrub, US$36, loccitane.com Pepper (clockwise): Molton Brown re-charge black pepper bodywash, US$34, and bodyscrub, US$25, moltonbrown.com; Senteurs du Sud eau de toilette for men, US$59, senteursdusud.fr; HÉvÉa cocoa bean sensual body oil, US$49, and cocoa spices lip balm, US$27, en.labo-hevea.com
photo: luis albuquerque; styling: daniel onori
Salt and pepper enhance even the blandest beauty routine.
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Haute Altitude
The winter playground of Telluride, Colorado, sets the stage for serious après-ski style.
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1. Painting by Oskar Merté, 1899; 2. Fall 2013 collection, Hervé Léger, herveleger.com; 3. Snowflake ring, Birks, US$1,995, birks.com; 4. Mid Gatherer Mukluks, Manitobah Mukluks, US$249, manitobah.ca; 5. White down mittens, Canada Goose, US$125, canada-goose.com; 6. Frasier Fir pinecone candle, Thymes, US$30, thymes.com; 7. Stoneware mug in cherry, Le Creuset, US$15, lecreuset.com; 8. Lamb leather bag, Marni, US$1,640, marni.com; 9. Diamond bracelet, Tiffany & Co., US$135,000, tiffany.com; 10. Red leather flask, Chanel, US$3,625, chanel.com Stephanie McBride Fairmont Magazine
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Questionnaire
Business Class
When it comes to travel, creative consultant Alan Iny recommends leaving your comfort zone at home.
Fondest travel memory — Hiking the five-day Milford Track in New Zealand with my wife right after we were married.
I never leave home without — Comfortable shoes.
First business trip — Washington, D.C., when I was the manager of the Montreal Chamber Music Festival.
Favorite city in the world — Depends on my mood, but I will always love Montreal. Especially the mountain in the center of the city.
First plane trip — London, England.
Dream travel companion — My wife, Roberta.
Best business travel tip — Make sure to take a walk, and try to eat a little bit of the local food.
Best shopping — Anywhere but the airport. Try to get to the local markets.
Favorite quality in a hotel — It has to feel like the destination, like a French castle or German monastery. Fairmont The Palm really felt like a part of Dubai. Also, it has to have a pool!
Perfect souvenir — Something that represents an architectural feature of the destination, like a mosaic I got from a chapel in Spain.
Best thing about traveling — Coming home to my little girl.
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Thinking in New Boxes is about being “stuck in a box.” To get out of a box while traveling, I like to — Give myself rules and make an effort to try new things. I make a point to get out and explore the destination instead of sticking to the same old airport-hotel-airport routine.
Alan Iny
On the job, Alan Iny challenges Fortune 100 companies to foster sustainable innovation. In his first book, Thinking in New Boxes (co-authored with colleague Luc de Brabandere), he shows how corporations from BIC to Trader Joe’s have stayed in the game by stepping up their creativity. Thinking in new boxes is published by Penguin Random House.
Stephanie McBride
photo: The Boston Consulting Group
Jet-lag remedy — Don’t drink alcohol. And wear pajamas on the plane.
Next vacation — Wandering the fjords of Norway with my wife and daughter.
The Dish
Sturgeon General
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No longer confined to lifestyles of the rich and famous, caviar is back and making a splash.
ighties TV host Robin Leach may have promised “Champagne wishes and caviar dreams,” but in the years that followed, the salty delicacy dropped off most foodies’ radars. That is, until recently, when legendary food purveyor Petrossian opened a new boutique in LAX. The launch not only signals a revival of the old-school caviar bar, it also highlights a new crop of brands bringing the decadent dish into the 21st century. With next-gen gourmets in mind, supplier Beverly Hills Caviar sets up in L.A. shopping malls, selling jars out of touch-screen “automated boutiques” (aka vending machines), alongside truffles, escargot and the requisite mother-of-pearl spoons. For the eco-minded, Northern Divine produces North America’s first certified-organic caviar, gathered from white sturgeon raised inland on Canada’s Sunshine Coast. (General manager Justin Henry
also touts its high levels of omega-3s and vitamin B12, although he notes that “most people probably aren’t eating it for health reasons.”) Other chefs have revived roe in inventive combinations – find it in tuna tartare at Hawksworth in Vancouver and atop English pea and fromage de tête risotto at New York’s Caviar Russe – though traditional blini and crème fraîche still reign supreme. As Petrossian’s website explains, these subtle flavors let the caviar shine through. For the ultimate authentic experience, book a table at Nur Lounge in Azerbaijan’s Fairmont Baku, where your caviar comes with an additional Robin Leach-approved accoutrement – a view of the Caspian Sea. Eve Thomas PETROSSIAN.COM; BEVERLYHILLSCAVIAR.COM; NORTHERNDIVINE.COM; HAWKSWORTHRESTAURANT.COM; CAVIARRUSSE.COM; FAIRMONT.COM/BAKU
Live the experience ——
photo: Caviar Russe
pag e 7 3
Fairmont Magazine
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Day Trip
The Wild Munch
3 c u l i n a r y M u s tDos in Whistler, C anada
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Fairmont Magazine
1/ Araxi Longtable Series Communal fine dining, al fresco.
2/ Cornucopia 10-day food-and-wine bacchanal.
3/ Belvedere Ice Room Vodka tasting at -25째F (-32째C).
araxi.com/longtable
whistlercornucopia.com
BEARFOOTBISTRO.COM
photo: Toshi Kawano (long table)
On the Canadian West Coast, the road between seaside Vancouver and the alpine village of Whistler reveals culinary rule breakers at every turn.
Day Trip
start
Market at giovane Executive chef Darren Brown brings the Italian shopping experience to Vancouver’s Fairmont Pacific Rim. Find homemade charcuterie, soups, stocks, pickles and preserves from the hotel’s scratch kitchen, as well as handpicked products sourced directly from the motherland. In giovane café + winebar, fall in love with Brown’s rustic Italian dishes, then pick up recipe cards and everything you need to recreate them at home. 1038 CANADA PL., VANCOUVER
Mile 1
Wildebeest This buzzing Gastown eatery sets itself apart by the devil it puts in the details. Try the seawater-infused hazelnuts and get meaty with the pork jowl with long pepper-scented oats doused in bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup. Sample playful cocktails like the Horseradish Sour, then we dare you to try the bone luge: a shot of sherry taken through a cow bone – after you’ve devoured the marrow, of course. 120 W. HASTINGS ST., VANCOUVER
Mile 166
Pemberton Distillery Schramm brothers – Tyler, a ski-lift builder, and Jonathan, a small-scale farmer – sought to repurpose potatoes that weren’t pretty enough to make the grocer’s cut. The answer was vodka. Today, Tyler, now a master distiller, and wife Lorien produce organic vodka, gin, whiskey, brandy and absinthe. Stop by the tasting room to sample these as well as the distillery’s elixirs and extracts. 1954 VENTURE PL., PEMBERTON
Mile 101
Galileo Coffee Company You’ll have trouble keeping your eyes on the road along the Sea-to-Sky Highway, where the colossal Coast Mountains meet the placid waters of Howe Sound. Save your stares and your appetite for this coffee house and bakery near the halfway point. The shop roasts and bags its beans in-house. 173 HWY. 99, BRITANNIA BEACH
Mile 207
The Grill Room If you liked what you tasted at Pemberton Distillery, try it again at The Fairmont Chateau Whistler. The Grill Room’s signature starter is a tomato soup flambéed at your table in a Schramm gin-fueled fire show. Follow with a cut of wild B.C. salmon. For a sweet ending, look no further than The Mallard Lounge’s chocolate pairing Live the menu – a flight of single-origin chocolate experience —— morsels served with tea, wine or Scotch. 4599 CHATEAU BLVD., WHISTLER
Natasha Mekhail
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Santa Fe For Those Who Want Nothing Less Than Everything. Located three blocks from the world-famous Plaza, Fairmont Heritage Place, El Corazon de Santa Fe is surrounded by Santa Fe’s most acclaimed attractions. Your Fairmont ownership combines the benefits of fractional pricing with signature privileges and services. It’s everything you want in a Santa Fe vacation home...and more.
Discover if ownership is right for you: 866-721-7800 • fairmontsantafe.com
La Vie en Rose Join the flower harvest in France and journey from bud to bottle in the creation of Fairmont’s new lobby fragrance. By Denyse Beaulieu — Photos by Ed Wright
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Fairmont Magazine
Some day you may breathe in a particle of the very blossom I picked. The rose harvest is the first stop on a global journey to create an exclusive lobby scent.
cup the rose gently.
Pinch between thumb and forefinger. Give a slight twist. Drop the pink blossom into the deep pocket of the sacourette, an apron worn front-toback so the thorns don’t snag it… Éliane is showing me how to pick the rose de mai, one of the two main varieties of roses used in perfumery. The flowers must be plucked between sunrise and mid-morning on the very day they bloom. So, for three weeks in May, she and other women from the nearby village of Fayence will come every day to harvest the flowers Alain Rebuffel’s family has grown for five generations in this 1.5-hectare field wedged between vineyards and olive groves just above the French Riviera. Some day, you may breathe in a particle of the very blossom I picked. The rose harvest is the first stop on a globe-spanning journey undertaken by Fabrice Penot and Édouard Roschi, the co-owners of New York-based boutique perfume brand Le Labo, to create an exclusive lobby scent for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. I’ve been invited, along with a select group of international journalists, to take in the first breath of that future fragrance here in the legendary birthplace of French perfumery – Grasse. The burlap bags holding the harvesters’ aromatic bounty sit in the shade of Notre-Dame-des-Roses, a 17th-century chapel whose name bears witness to the age-old tradition of the region. A tanners’ town in the Middle Ages, Grasse started growing flowers to make fragranced glove leather, a fashion introduced by Catherine de’ Medici after she came to France in 1533 to marry King Henry II. The town would go on to produce many of the essences used by Paris perfume houses – rose, lavender, jasmine, tuberose. Entire dynasties of perfumers, known as “noses,” hail from the region. Today, the flower fields that quilted the area until the 1960s have been all but obliterated by the high cost of labor and real estate. But since flowers, like grapes, vary according to their terroir, brands such as Chanel, Dior and Patou are still willing to pay premium prices for
the peerless essence of rose pays (the “country rose” of Grasse). It takes one ton of blossoms to obtain a kilo of its essence, which can fetch up to €10,000. We drive out with the burlap sacks to the extraction plant owned by Firmenich, one of the world’s largest perfume and flavor companies (global best sellers like CK One and Acqua Di Giò come from its labs). This is where Rebuffel’s roses will be reborn as one of the most precious ingredients in the perfumer’s palette. Spilled out onto the gray concrete floor of Firmenich’s extraction facility, the pink blossoms are achingly vivid. Two workers tethered to harnesses shovel the blooms into six-foot-deep vats. The final moment, as they shut the lids on the last of the freshly plucked blossoms, is poignant. The roses will now surrender their souls to three washes of solvent, a traditional method perfected in Grasse in the late 19th century. This yields a wax called the concrète, which is rinsed with alcohol then distilled to extract the aromatic fraction called the absolute: the quintessence of the rose de mai, green-tinged with a hint of hay, a dollop of raspberry jam and a suggestion of wine dregs.
B
ack in Monaco after the hour-long drive from Grasse, our little group of harvesters-for-a-day is enjoying the view from Fairmont Monte Carlo’s Billionaire Sunset Lounge, possibly the most sought-after rooftop in the most glamorous square mile in the world. Overlooking a sea tinted the shade of pink Champagne by the sunset, we nibble on the season’s first strawberries, dipped in delicate rose and violet jellies. I tell my host, Alexandra Blum, Fairmont’s executive director of global brand development and partnerships, about the olfactory bubble that popped in my memory this morning as I took my shower. The odd short circuit carried me back to my first stay at Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth, a landmark hotel in my native Montreal, Canada, where I first encountered the in-room amenities scented with Le Labo’s Rose 31 fragrance. Fairmont Magazine
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Scent is a sense so intimate, it connects directly with the part of our brains where emotional memories are formed.
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With its sprinkle of spices over wood notes laced with incense smoke, Rose 31 has so much character you half expect it to strike up a conversation with you over coffee and croissants. Renewing our acquaintance this morning behind the shower curtain of my room at Fairmont Monte Carlo somehow felt as though Monaco gearing up for the Grand Prix were connected with Montreal on that snowbound New Year’s Eve. And, from now on, I’m sure every time I smell Rose 31 I’ll remember dunking a melting croissant into my café au lait on the terrace of my room on the Riviera, squinting as the rising sun turns the sea and hills into molten gold under a lavender sky. Blum nods and smiles. Mission accomplished. Turning moments into memories is Fairmont’s motto. “We asked ourselves what our role should be in the memory-making process,” she explains. “How we could reconcile the diverse hotels that we manage. How to make the historic modern and the modern relevant without changing bricks and mortar.”
T
he answer is scent: the potent low-tech tool with the power to thread together different locations around the world. And, more significantly, to weave them into the travel experience through a sense so intimate it connects directly with the part of our brains where emotional memories are formed. But that scent had to be unique enough to leave a lasting imprint. So instead of defaulting to one-size-fits-all citrus or green tea notes produced by mainstream luxury brands, Blum opted for a rich and complex niche perfume.
Concierge
Monte Carlo, Monaco Stay
Fairmont Monte Carlo, a streamlined modernist structure rising from the Mediterranean like a giant luxury yacht, was hailed Best European Hotel at the International Hotel Awards in 2011. Its spectacular views can be savored from the terraces of the seaside rooms, the rooftop Billionaire Sunset Lounge or the Horizon Deck, Restaurant and Champagne Bar.
fairmont.com/monte-carlo
Dine
At L’Argentin, enjoy the refined, Mediterranean-sourced cuisine conceived by Fairmont Monte Carlo’s executive chef Philippe Joannès, who holds the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France. NOBU AT FAIRMONT MONTE CARLO has gone from pop-up to permanent. Enjoy celebrity chef Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa’s signature: traditional Japanese cuisine combined with South American spices and aromas.
noburestaurants.com
P
enot and Roschi selected Rose 31, hailed Best Fragrance of the Year in 2007 by Wallpaper magazine, to scent Fairmont’s soaps, lotions and shampoos. Of the 22 scents Le Labo produces, it is a favorite in every country. Its very originality is what allows it to sidestep cultural preferences, says Roschi: “It’s like a reset button. An amazing emotion generator.” Commissioning a scent that would express Fairmont’s olfactive identity from check in to check out was the next logical step. “In the same way perfume affects the perception of a person, a smell can modify our perception of space,” adds Penot. And so the Fairmont scent-scape that began with Rose 31 will continue with an original Le Labo lobby fragrance – one linked to the amenities by their shared base of rose. From the harvest in Grasse, the creative duo will move on to other countries to sniff out the ingredients that best express the spirit of each land. Their trek will take them from the Incense Road in Oman to the Spice Route in China and India; from Canada, they will draw the scent of Pacific red cedar. They will then have a perfumer translate those stories into a fragrance formula destined for the lobby scent and a collection of candles. With this personal touch – a creative journey turned into a thing of beauty – the hands that pluck the flowers will reach out to the hands that open the lobby door. All the more reason to stop and smell the roses: Their scent is the future memory of what you are living now.
From left to right: Alain Rebuffel’s fields through the 17thCentury Notre-Damedes-Roses Chapel; A harvester plucks the blossoms; Fairmont president jennifer fox stops to smell the roses; Fabrice Penot; Édouard Roschi with a visitor from FayEnce
Do Experience Grasse with a tour of the rose de mai fields during morning harvest, followed by a trip to the Musée International de la Parfumerie, as part of the Fairmont Monte Carlo Scent & Senses package. Admission to the museum includes a visit to the Jardins du MIP, an outdoor exposition of the herbs and flowers that made Grasse the capital of perfumery. Horizon deck
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Top chefs, design-conscious restos
and cheeky plays on traditional dishes: A culinary exploration of Manila reveals an exploding foodie scene that goes well beyond adobo.
Text and photos by Remy Scalza
Perfecting The upscale Makati district holds most of Metro Manila’s skyscrapers; opposite: The Long Bar at Fairmont Makati serves southeast asian dishes and classic cocktails like the singapore sling
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Pinoy Fairmont Magazine
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On a steamy Friday night,
the patios of Fort Bonifacio are overflowing with the young and well dressed. Taxis form a line as they drop off passengers in front of a simple neighborhood bistro called Aracama, a single room with bold, patterned wallpaper and butcher’s paper on the tables. Inside, the beef is cooked sous-vide. The cheese is artisanal. The cocktails are mixed with craft-distilled rum and the appetizers are playful, tongue-in-cheek takes on street food. None of which would be noteworthy in New York, London or Tokyo. But this is Metro Manila. And the menu at Aracama is boldly, proudly Filipino. Unlike its cousin cuisines in Thailand or Japan, Filipino – or Pinoy – food does not enjoy a sterling global reputation. If international diners do have anything to say about it, it’s generally unflattering. “You hear the complaints: Our food is too heavy, it’s too sweet, it’s got no styling,” says JJ Yulo, a Manila food writer and chef who trained at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. “But those are clichés. All it takes is for people to give Pinoy food a chance.” Luckily, I’ve come to Manila with an open palate and an open mind. Tonight, Aracama is filling up fast. The Fort neighborhood is part of upscale Taguig, one of a network of 16 cities that are home to Metro Manila’s 12 million inhabitants. The restaurant is surrounded by glades of new skyscrapers and expansive pedestrian malls. Hummers and Ferraris prowl streets lined with international luxury boutiques like Gucci and Prada. But inside, the dishes are local staples – classics like adobo, the meaty stew considered the Philippines’ unofficial national dish, reborn here with fresh ingredients and a light touch. The server steers me to a house specialty, kare-kare. Stewed oxtail – a darling of global foodies – is flavored with peanut sauce and bagoong, a fermented shrimp or fish paste ubiquitous in Filipino cooking. Banana hearts wrapped in cabbage leaves, served on the side, offer a splash of color. The result is unexpected, complex and exquisite. “What we’re seeing is a renaissance of Filipino cuisine in the Philippines,” Yulo says. “Manila is rediscovering itself.” To better understand where Filipino food is going, it helps to know
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where it has been. On a hot, cloudless morning, I catch a cab that takes me far from posh Fort Bonifacio to Intramuros, the walled compound in downtown Manila where the city was born. The Spanish claimed the Philippines in 1565, ruling nearly uninterrupted for the next 333 years before ceding control to the Americans. The distant outpost of Manila grew into the Pearl of the Orient, a vibrant center of commerce with grand boulevards, ornate cathedrals and a cosmopolitan sensibility unlike any city in Asia. While almost all of the old city was reduced to rubble during World War II, a few traces of the past do survive. Along a quiet lane, not far from the whitewashed presidential palace, is a row of Spanish colonialstyle homes spared from destruction. Here, one family mansion, built by a prominent Manila doctor in 1937, has been turned into a living museum of traditional Filipino cuisine. I climb a creaky wooden staircase to the second-floor dining room at La Cocina de Tita Moning, where the shades are drawn tight against the afternoon sun. Under heavy crystal chandeliers, servers clad in black and white shuffle between tables decked out in heirloom china and silver. The menu, based faithfully on old family recipes, is a primer on the roots of Pinoy cuisine. Spanish cooking styles and ingredients – roasted pork, spicy sausages, even paellas – mix with Malay seasonings and native ingredients such as guava and coconut. Meanwhile, Chinese influences from centuries of trade show up in noodle dishes and spring rolls, sweetened and spiced for the local palate. I start with sinigang, a sour soup flavored with tamarind and brimming with pieces of roasted pork. Then comes a whole crispy tilapia, seasoned with calamansi, the country’s native lime, and served with mango Japanese sushi makes an appearance at Fairmont Makati’s Sprawling Sunday Champagne Brunch; Designer stores (and “jeepneys”) line the tony streets of Makati; opposite: Milky Way Café is famous for its halo-halo, a classic Pinoy dessert of purple Yam ice cream and about a dozen other ingredients
“We are seeing
a renaissance of Filipino cuisine. Manila is rediscovering itself.”
—JJ Yulo, chef and food blogger
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Chinese influences from centuries
Refined versions of the popular street treat leche flan turon – flan wrapped in crêpes and deep-fried – can be found in Makati cafés; opposite: Asian cuisines, from Filipino to Chinese and Japanese, are well represented at Fairmont Makati’s Sunday Champagne Brunch
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of trade show up in noodle dishes and spring rolls, sweetened and spiced for the local palate.
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chutney. Finally, a traditional adobo is served: chunks of chicken and pork braised in garlic, vinegar and soy and paired with dinuguan, a savory stew of pig’s blood and offal. I can’t say I love every bite. But each dish is bold and uncompromising – flavors coming together in ways sure to bedazzle even jaded globe-trotting epicures. In Filipino fashion, this is no quick meal. Around me, families talk, linger, sip and savor over an afternoon of epic eating. By the time I descend the stairs and head back out into Manila, the heat of the day has faded. My taxi crawls through traffic toward skyscrapers on the horizon. While the old city may offer perspective on where Filipino cuisine has been, to understand where it’s going I need to experience Metro Manila’s modern heart, Makati.
“T
his is the business center of one of Asia’s biggest cities. If you want to make a name for yourself as a restaurateur – or as anything – this is the place to do it,” says Robert Bolaños, executive sous-chef at one of Makati’s new culinary institutions, Fairmont Makati. The city of Makati was born from the ashes of World War II, built on what was Manila’s airport. Today, the former runways – Ayala and Makati Avenues – are lined with the kind of high-end malls and shimmering high-rises that define the modern Asian megacity. Filipino movers and shakers (including 84-year-old shoe-loving former first lady Imelda Marcos) call its leafy suburbs home. Tower cranes loom over the concrete skeletons of new buildings, presaging future expansion. Among the newest additions to the skyline is Fairmont Makati, a 30-story block of glass whose razor-sharp profile splits the city center. Opened in early 2013, the hotel is already drawing culinary faithful with its Sunday Champagne brunch. An elaborate buffet stretches the perimeter of the Spectrum restaurant, showcasing trending international cuisines from Indian tandoori to French patisserie. But what brings in the crowds week after week is a Pinoy fiesta favorite: lechon, roast suckling pig. “It’s really not a party without a lechon,” says Bolaños, who then explains how the pig has been slow roasted for hours, turning the skin a deliciously
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glossary of pinoy cuisine
adobo bagoong calamansi dinuguan durian halo-halo kare-kare lechon pancit guisado sinigang sisig ube
Stew of marinated meat, fish or vegetables in a rich vinegary broth, also known as the Philippines’ national dish. Salty condiment and flavor-enhancer made of fermented shrimp or fish. Sour citrus fruit native to the Philippines. Savory stew of pork blood and offal, whose color and consistency resembles melted chocolate. Melon-like fruit with a thick, spiky husk and powerful (sometimes cloying) aroma. Colorful dessert parfait of condensed milk, sweetened beans, fruit, gelatin and shaved ice. Stewed oxtail in a creamy peanut sauce. Roast suckling pig – a Filipino fiesta favorite. Chinese-style fried pork, seafood and noodle dish. Meat-and-vegetable soup cooked in a sour tamarind broth. Vinegar-marinated cheek-and-offal hash, whose name literally means “to snack on something sour.” Purple yam used as a flavoring in many Filipino desserts.
crispy golden brown. I join the queue for a taste of pork prepared a half dozen ways: in tender slices, as crispy cracklings, marinated with vinegar and onions, even finely chopped and made into a succulent cheek-and-offal hash known as sisig. “We have an extraordinary culinary tradition in the Philippines,” Bolaños says. “But we’re just starting to acknowledge that.” With 21 years of experience in the city’s best kitchens, Bolaños is a tireless booster of Pinoy cuisine – and among its harshest critics. “Formal culinary education is new here,” he says, so dishes aren’t standardized. Presentation and styling are often afterthoughts, he laments, while the country’s palate-popping mix of sweet and sour flavors can overwhelm international taste buds. “But you don’t have to go far to elevate our cuisine,” Bolaños says, taking me into the kitchen to demonstrate. Into a frying pan, he tosses garlic, then fresh prawns, Spanish chorizo, chicken and pork belly. He adds a dash of soy, then carrots and snow peas and finally egg noodles before finishing it all with a twist of calamansi. The result could be a fusion sensation, the kind of daring, East-meets-West dish, popping with color, that’s a staple of chic international kitchens. Instead, it’s a Pinoy classic, pancit guisado – a homey mash-up of Chinese and Spanish influences, spiffed up for international tastes.
M
y Filipino culinary education wouldn’t be complete without a lesson on arguably the most important part of the meal: dessert. Back outside in Makati, the Manila summer is at its height. I swim through a humid afternoon, walking along palm-lined Makati Avenue past luxury condos and intersections buzzing with motorbikes. In a lush park, devotees of stick fighting, the country’s native martial art, sweat through choreographed routines. Further on, SUVs and exhaust-puffing “jeepneys” – local buses that look like vintage army jeeps – deposit passengers into air-conditioned malls. Singing draws me to an open-air pavilion, which acts as an outdoor cathedral as worshipers belt out songs in their native Tagalog. I meet back up with Yulo, the food blogger and chef, outside of a drab building dwarfed by Makati’s new high-rises. Inside, secreted away on the
second floor, is one of the best-loved cafés in a city that adores its desserts: Milky Way. “One cliché about Filipinos is true,” Yulo says, scanning the encyclopedic menu. “We do have a sweet tooth.” Around us, Milky Way patrons suck back frosty treats from oversized glasses: bubble teas, sorbets, icy smoothies sweetened with steamed corn. Tropical fruits, from durian to ube, a purple yam, show up in a rainbow of pies, flans and sticky rice cakes. Yulo finds a table in the corner. While we wait, he pulls up iPhone pictures of new restaurants, packed tapas bars, even a high-concept bistro known as The Goose Station that highlights Filipino historical milestones through food (the macabre meal conclusion being a cake-based representation of a national hero’s execution). It’s only a matter of time, Yulo says, before international eaters and big-city chefs catch on to Filipino cuisine. “There’s so much to work with. We’ve got fresh seafood and amazing flavors and these diverse traditions. Everybody here, and I can really feel it, is waiting for the breakthrough.” A waiter approaches with two tall parfait glasses filled with the consummate Pinoy dessert, halo-halo. Beneath a mound of purple ube ice cream is an improbable jumble of toasted rice and coconut, sweetened red beans and chickpeas, red and green gelatin for color, shaved ice to beat the tropical heat and at least a dozen other ingredients. Conversation stops; spoons go to work. “It’s basically the Philippines as a dessert,” Yulo says finally. “A little bit of everything mixed together. But it works.”
Left to right: The aromatic pandan leaf provides color and flavor for pandan sans rival, a specialty at the Ayala Museum café; One of 16 cities in metro manila, makati Is the Philippines’ financial capital; Colorful Pancit guisado is A Chinese-inspired dish of prawns, pork belly and chicken over egg noodles; Horse-drawn carriages outside Manila Cathedral offer tours of Intramuros
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On the cover
Concierge
Makati, Philippines Stay
Situated in Manila’s upscale financial district, the sleek Fairmont Makati is a refined retreat from the heat and bustle of the big city. The 280 spacious guest rooms and suites are styled with an eye toward contemporary Asian elegance, while the rooftop pool and spa provide a refreshing oasis on balmy afternoons. fairmont.com/makati
Dine Travelers seeking an elegant
introduction to Filipino cuisine need look no further than Spectrum, Fairmont Makati’s flagship restaurant. Local classics from adobo to pancit (braised egg noodles) are prepared with light, fresh ingredients. To experience the avant-garde of contemporary Filipino dining, head to the nearby Fort Bonifacio neighborhood, a posh new district favored by Manila’s culinary cognoscenti. Don’t miss Aracama, where classic recipes get a contemporary update, and Las Flores, a Barcelona-style tapas bar that hints at the Spanish roots of Filipino dining.
Do Makati is a city of malls, and the
most impressive is Greenbelt, a shopper’s oasis of 300 stores and restaurants selling everything from Salvatore Ferragamo to Krispy Kreme. Greenbelt is also home to the Ayala Museum, which houses paintings from Filipino masters and an entire floor of solid-gold indigenous artifacts from the 10th to 13th centuries.
Scenes from the newly opened Fairmont makati, including a dramatic glassworks installation in the lobby. Designer Grace Soh sought to fuse past and present with this and other reimaginings of traditional Filipino craftwork
Fairmont Makati’s Sunday Champagne Brunch
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O rd e r on the Court A trip to Acapulco
reveals an understated tennis haven where amateurs mingle with the pros – and both find their game. By Neal McLennan
stretch more than that,” tsks Tomás Flores as he bends down to go through his poses. “I plan on working you pretty hard today.” I silently comply, thrown off by a trifecta of foreign experiences: the warm embrace of the Acapulco heat, the soft red clay beneath my feet and the thousands of empty seats fanning out in each direction. Flores, a bull-like 57-year-old, has been the pro at The Fairmont Acapulco Princess for the past three decades. As I watch him languidly wrap his elbow in supportive tape, somehow I know this matchup won’t be easy. This week the resort will feature two notable events: Rafael Nadal will compete in the 20th Mexican Open and Flores will attempt to help me find my long-misplaced tennis game. The iconic resort town 185 miles southwest of Mexico City with the impossibly beautiful bay is an inspired choice for my mission. Some 60 years ago a mix of Mexico’s elite and an international jet set brought the sport to the then-burgeoning area. And while so many resorts up and down the coast have made golf their focus, Acapulco has maintained its love affair with tennis. As we stretch, Flores regales me with a swing-by-swing analysis of past celebrities whose games he helped hone on the Princess courts: Engelbert Humperdinck was a fierce competitor, Farrah Fawcett not so much. But of late it’s the pros who make the yearly pilgrimage here: The
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Princess has hosted the Open since it moved from Mexico City in 2001. And right now I’m at the heart of it all – center court with my new guru, waiting to start my journey.
Flores decides
that first we’ll work on my serve. At six foot three, I stand almost a head taller than my coach. (“Has anyone ever told you you look like Fess Parker?” he asks, referencing the 1950s star of Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier, another of his former pupils. “No,” is my honest reply.) He seems to take it personally that I can’t unload the massive howitzers that science says my stature is capable of. A weak toss, a wild flail and the ball slams into the net. Repeat. I tell myself that the presence of ball boys at the Princess – an uncommon sight stateside unless you’re Pete Sampras – racing across the court to retrieve my every failure throws me off, but Flores quickly zeros in on the problem: my toss. He encourages me do it with three balls jammed in my hand, and I’m focusing so hard on not dropping them that I forget about worrying. Ten minutes later my serves are dropping in like nobody’s business. We end the day with a head-to-head game, which Flores wins handily. On one point he executes a masterful clay slide but his volley clips the net and falls just out, which elicits a non-ironic “Ay, caramba!” I deem it a moral victory.
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“You should
For a sport that, at this level, only exists for most of us through TV, it’s disconcerting to look up at the salad bar and see David Ferrer helping himself to beets.
Still tired from my thrashing, I make my way post-lesson to some of the other courts that dot the property. While the main event hasn’t started, the qualifiers (or “qualies” in tennis jargon) are under way. These matches showcase the up-and-comers vying for a chance to face the ranked players already in the tournament. Every star – from Roger Federer to Venus Williams – played in the qualies on their way to the top and these raw, passion-driven matches attract a spectating crowd that wants more game than glitz.
photo: LatinContent/Getty Images photos: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Even with
the qualies under way, there’s no shortage of tennis greats on site. It takes a few days to get used to the casual milling about of pro players at The Fairmont Acapulco Princess. For a sport that, at this level, only exists for most of us through TV, it’s disconcerting to look up at the salad bar at the resort’s Chula Vista restaurant and see David Ferrer helping himself to beets. Emboldened by my routine brushes with tennis stardom I begin the next day with renewed vigor. The tournament is starting so Flores and I switch to the courts at nearby The Fairmont Pierre Marques, a sister property to the Princess, just a short stroll up the beach. Here, in what was once the private compound of oil billionaire J. Paul Getty, the freneticism of the tournament fades and my coach and I have the courts to ourselves to focus on the new task at hand: footwork.
David Ferrer serves against Paolo Lorenzi at the 2013 Mexican Open in Acapulco
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The Mexican Open draws annual crowds to the clay courts of the Fairmont Acapulco Princess, but the rest of the year the iconic mexican resort’s following comes for its classic design by William Rudolph and Leonides Guadarrama (reminiscent of an ancient Aztec pyramid), its Turtle dunes 18-hole championship golf course, five outdoor pools and willow stream spa
But as with my toss yesterday, I know there’s a method to Flores’s madness. “The greatest swing in the world will do nothing if you’re not in position,” he counsels on a rare break, and by lesson’s end I find myself launching solid shots with regularity. We again end the day with a game: 6–3, Flores. Progress. Walking back to the tournament, with the red clay streaking my calves and racquet in hand, I end up watching one of the up-and-coming Spaniards locked in a veritable war with his opponent. The day is so hot that halfway through the second set I sneak up to my room, throw on some trunks, take a quick dip in the Pacific and am back in my seat to watch the match end. (Try doing that at Wimbledon.) In fact, the nearby presence of the ocean – it’s no more than an errant serve away from center court – brings a relaxed vibe to the very serious matter at hand. Even the most frustrated players seem to look up at the palm trees, feel the cooling sea breeze and recognize that they’ve got a killer job. But while the tournament is just starting, I have only one more chance for glory. F lores has a final session to make a player of me. This time the focus is my backhand. On the plus side I’ve adopted the two-handed grip favored by a good number of the pros; on the downside I use it to hit the ball out a good number of times.
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Flores urges me to visualize an object hanging off a string. He’s my Latin Mr. Miyagi, teaching in parables that turn out to be valuable. We end our session with our now ritual game. My improved serve keeps him pinned back, my footwork has me launching shots I didn’t know I possessed and my new backhand has erased a weakness that existed for decades. We trade games. A few more ay carambas and when the literal red dust settles, it’s 7–5, Fess Parker.
I’d fallen
into the routine of early-morning sessions with Flores, then watching some real tennis and ending the night with a Dos Equis and some muscle-soothing Advil on my balcony. But now, thanks to Flores’s expert ability to throw a game, leaving feels a little easier to take. In 2014, in a nod to changing tennis trends, the tournament will be played on the Princess’s new hard court. The move will attract even bigger names and, for resort guests, it now means an embarrassment of riches when it comes to the number and type of courts available. A few days after arriving home I watch Nadal on TV as he hoists the Mexican Open trophy on the same center court Flores and I dueled upon just days earlier. For a fleeting, deluded moment I feel a kinship with Nadal, my fellow champion in Acapulco.
Concierge
ACAPULCO, MEXICO Stay
The Fairmont Acapulco Princess helped popularize the Diamante section of Acapulco, a straight white blast of perfect beach that’s far removed from the hustle and bustle of downtown. The Aztec pyramid design by William Rudolph and Leonidas Guadarrama is recognized as a modern classic of resort architecture.
fairmont.com/acapulco Almost right next door, The Fairmont Pierre Marques channels a much more low-key vibe, the way the property’s original owner, Anglo-American oil baron J. Paul Getty, would have wanted it. Low-rise buildings and bungalows sprawl out over the large property, affording respite from the popular beach.
fairmont.com/pierre-marques-acapulco
Dine Tabachin, at The Fairmont
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The day is so hot that halfway through the second set I sneak up to my room, throw on some trunks, take a quick dip in the Pacific and am back in my seat to watch the match end. (Try doing that at Wimbledon.)
Pierre Marques, mixes bygone glamor with a relaxed, open-air room serving a mix of contemporary cuisine with Mexican touches, as well as numerous health-driven lifestyle selections necessary for top athletes – and those who aspire to be.
Do
A short drive from the hotel is the perfectly preserved Las Brisas neighborhood, a mix of mid-century and hacienda architecture hanging high above the town’s famous bay and dotted with the mansions of Mexico City elite. Stop at the minimalist Capilla de la Paz (Chapel of Peace) for a calm reverie married to the best view in town.
Sara Errani returns the ball to Carla Suarez in the Mexican Open women’s single finals match
Fairmont Acapulco Princess
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I t Ta k e s a Va l l e y 48
Fairmont Magazine
In California wine country,
the year’s biggest party eschews bling and ball gowns for good food, philanthropy and a little healthy competition. By Eve Thomas — Photos by Richmond L am
Clink!
A toast to the winemakers. Clang! A new bid on a barrel. Clap! The gavel goes down on a 12-liter Balthazar of Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon, a steal at half a million dollars. Bidders be warned: Auction Napa Valley is not for the faint of heart. “Jump in!” urges Humphrey Butler from the front of the room. “This isn’t a private party!” The British auctioneer is all gentle teasing and witty asides, prowling the stage in jeans and a dress shirt, the top buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. When a blending session with winemaker Michel Rolland is on the block, Butler cuts through the crowd of paddles to beseech the top bidder directly: “Do not stop, sir, I implore you. I flew all the way from England for this.” As the gavel claps once again there’s a burst of rainbow confetti, hugs and high fives at the winning table. A Black Eyed Peas song rings throughout the massive tent like it’s halftime at the Super Bowl, and guests take a break from bidding, sipping and shaking mini tambourines to try some local sorbet. The runners-up at my table are grinning despite their defeat. They lower their paddles, pulses still racing, faces flushed from the California sun – and perhaps a drop or two of pinot. It’s clear they didn’t just come to wine country to win big.
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The 33rd Auction Napa Valley may offer elite lots, competitive crowds and high stakes (before the weekend’s done, it will raise a record $16.9 million for local charities), but one thing’s certain: This sure ain’t Sotheby’s. “When people found out I was coming here, they said, ‘Oh, you’re going to need a tuxedo, ball gown, something glam!’” recalls Alison Crary, associate winemaker at Sterling Vineyards. “As you can see, that’s not really the case.” In Napa, the darkest suits are reserved for limo drivers, the stiffest shirts for wait staff and the statement headwear – ivory cowboy hats – for community volunteers. A few dandies aside, most everyone adheres to the “Napa Valley casual” dress code, meaning straw fedoras, linen shorts, colorful sundresses and patterned Tommy Bahama tops. Flat sandals and wedges are a must for ladies who want to navigate grassy fields and twisting cellar staircases. Dark red nail polish is also trending. It’s Napa Valley Cabernet, a shade created exclusively for the event by OPI. Even the A-listers here are good at blending in. Though Oprah previous page: festivities kick off at stag’s leap wine cellars with a private lakeside dinner; this page: BIdders raise their paddles at meadowood; opposite: a volunteer adds a new barrel bid to the leaderboard at raymond vineyards
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and Jay Leno have attended in past years, the real stars are from the worlds of food and wine. “A lot of people come just so they can talk to their favorite vintners,” says Crary. Robert Mondavi’s heirs weave in and out of the barrel tasting room. Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto cranes his neck to check out a Lamborghini on display. And though he’ll be standing on stage in a few hours, honorary auction chair Garen Staglin, owner of Staglin Family Vineyard, waits patiently for his badge and table number. When someone spots him and asks what on earth he’s doing there in line with everyone else, he simply shrugs and asks, “Why not?”
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f it isn’t clear from the crowd that this charity auction is unique, then look to the 46 lots on offer. While there are hot-ticket wines, the fastest paddles aren’t just vying for something to drink, they want a priceless experience: a private tour of Coco Chanel’s Parisian apartment, an after-hours viewing of da Vinci’s Last Supper, cooking lessons at The French Laundry. Those who don’t bid quickly or daringly enough are still in for a weekend’s worth of memories. The actual auction is just a few hours in an annual four-day celebration of the region’s bounty, an event that’s been taking place every spring since 1981. On the first evening, guests are welcomed by vintners at private dinners across the valley. After a scenic,
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45-minute drive from The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa I find myself at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. It was one of the first wineries to put Napa on the map in 1976 at the famous “Judgment of Paris,” which had California wines beating out the French in a blind taste test. Here, feasting on oysters and gourmet s’mores near Fay Lake, I find the faces that will become familiar over the next few days: an oncologist and oenophile from India, a wine lawyer who makes the trip every year from Florida, a couple from China with a private cellar showcasing California wines. On day two, the lots come to life under the tents at Raymond Vineyards. Former US Ski Team members (and identical twins) hand out snow cones to promote a trip to Park City, Utah, to watch the Sochi Olympics. A towering cardboard cutout of Yao Ming showcases the basketballer’s winery and guided tours in Beijing and Shanghai. It’s also the day to sample right from the barrel, with winemakers dipping pipettes and doling out their best and rarest blends to fans. Each new bid is announced loudly as a wooden panel is dropped through metal rails onto the leaderboard. A colorful cast of characters at auction napa valley, including vip bidders, vintners, volunteers and members of the local boys & girls club, who greet guests with bubbles and paper flowers
Having traveled the Old World’s vineyards, it’s a bit odd hearing how much California’s wine country has changed. The last full day is the live auction at Meadowood Napa Valley, where guests are greeted by a Dixieland band and trays of bubbly. By the croquet lawn, Top Chef winners offer up signatures as well as signature dishes, including butter soup and ox tongue. After the frenzied live auction, the night continues with haute comfort food from Blackberry Farm – fried chicken, ribs and fixings, all served family-style. As the winner of a raffled Audi R8 Spyder is announced, a few women in the audience grab macaronhued parasols off their tables and twirl them in celebration, kicking off a night of dancing as the sweltering sun finally recedes past the redwood trees.
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on’t forget, we used to be plum trees and walnut groves,” says volunteer Allison Saether from behind a crowded water stand, its white surface already dotted with drops of red wine. A retired nurse and longtime local, she’s been involved in the auction for 25 years, watching it grow alongside the region itself. “I still remember when Napa didn’t mean ‘wine’ wherever you went!” she says. Having traveled the Old World’s vineyards, thick with history and ancient growth, it’s a bit odd hearing how much California’s wine country has changed and continues to transform. Its reputation may have been kick-started by the Judgment of Paris, but like the auction itself, modern visitors are drawn here looking beyond their next bottle. “People come to taste but they want a reason to stick around,” observes Christian Lopez from the visitor center at Cakebread Cellars, which emphasizes wine and food pairings through cookbooks, resident chefs, cooking classes and wine label QR codes that lead drinkers to online tasting notes and exclusive recipes. As Lopez says, “We don’t want to be a ‘belly up to the bar, pour and ignore’ winery.” Jean-Charles Boisset echoes the sentiment. “Some wineries want to get you to buy something and leave – we want you to stay!” he says before walking a small group of guests through Raymond Vineyards’ veritable on-site campus. It includes a classroom lined with soil-filled Fairmont Magazine
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Concierge
Napa & Sonoma, California Stay
The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa is in the heart of its own burgeoning wine country, as well as a scenic 45-minute drive from Napa Valley. Book a newly renovated suite and you’ll enjoy a wood-burning fireplace and a welcome bottle of wine (with a new tree planted for every room booked). At 40,000 square feet (3,700 square meters), the hotel’s Willow Stream Spa is a destination in itself, on the site of mineral hot springs. The Wine Country Recovery treatment is great for taking you from wine tasting to gourmet dinner, soothing sun-damaged skin and tired feet with a soak, aloe wrap and massage.
fairmont.com/sonoma
Dine To really savor California wine
country at the hotel’s Michelin-rated restaurant, Santé, order the chef’s tasting menu with wine selections. From truffle risotto to orange soufflé cut with crème anglaise, every bite in this seasonally oriented menu is perfectly paired. While in Napa, see what goes best with burgers at Gott’s Roadside or pack a picnic full of local delicacies at oakville grocery (founded in 1881, it’s the oldest continually operated grocery store in the state).
gotts.com, oakvillegrocery.com
apothecary jars and a hallway full of atomizers that diffuse the aromas – rose, pepper, fig – found in wines. Saether emphasizes another way the auction stands out among charity galas. “People come from all across the world, but every penny stays right here,” she says. “The auction has really brought Napa Valley together as a whole community.” All the locals seem to agree, from a second-generation grape grower who’s donating an acre of land (and potential profits) to help expand the Napa River to the young members of the Boys & Girls Club who greet guests at Meadowood with handmade paper flowers. They see the effects of the auction, which has raised nearly $110 million for youth, health care and housing charities since its inception, every day when they drive to work or go to school. The event isn’t just a fundraiser – it’s a reminder that Napa’s newfound riches aren’t worth much unless they trickle down to everyone. The very last lot on offer, number 46, is proof positive that the community spirit is more than just talk. Before bidding starts, Nashville singer-songwriter Billy Dean is called to the stage to debut a song penned for the event. It’s called “Walk with Me,” and as he name-checks the valley’s regions, from St. Helena to Calistoga, attendees raise their paddles for the cause. This time around, there are no trips on offer, no parties, no barrels. Everyone is in it just to help. Just for the experience.
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the fairmont sonoma mission Inn & spa recently underwent a major refurbishment, including a newlydecorated lobby (above right), though the striking exterior, willow stream spa and santé restaurant are as iconic as ever
Do
Book the hotel’s Sommelier Apprentice Package and you’ll get wine and cheese upon arrival as well as VIP tours of local vineyards. Fairmont President’s Club members have access to Napa wines in California and across the United States through the Taste Napa Valley program, which offers flights of the region’s finest wines at select Fairmont hotels. Members in the US can also take the experience home with them through the napa valley wine club. In partnership with Dean & Deluca, it offers a quarterly, curated selection of bottles delivered straight to your door. The next Auction napa valley event starts June 7, 2014. Check online or with the concierge for ticket and event information.
fairmont.com/promotions/nvv, deandeluca.com, auctionnapavalley.org
Aw a y We G o Save time and pack with purpose. We narrow in on the essentials for five classic weekend getaways. By Stephanie McBride — Photos by luis albuquerque — Styling by daniel onori
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01. sunglasses, Porsche, US$500, porsche-design.com; 02. attaché case, Porsche, US$1,150; 03. headphones, Bose, US$300, bose.com; 04. Porsche Blackberry smartphone P9991, Blackberry, US$1,800, blackberry.com; 05. carry-on, Porsche, US$2,600; 06. James Bond briefcase, Globe-Trotter, US$1,160, globetrotter1897.com; 07. iPad mini case, offermann, US$150, offermann1842.com; 08. Speedmaster Watch, Omega, US$9,000, omegawatches.com; 09. wallet, Burberry, US$325, burberry.com; 10. Crocodile shoes, Canali, price upon request, canali.it; 11. shirt, Ermenegildo Zegna , US$355, zegna.com; 12. Silk tie, Robert Talbott, US$155, roberttalbott.com; 13. Mobile hard drive, Porsche, US$195; 14. silk hankie, Eton, US$55, etonshirts.com; 15. suit, Hugo Boss, US$795, hugoboss.com; 16. Shampoo, Zvonko Paris, US$36, zvonkoparis.com; 17. Belt, Burberry, US$335; 18. Shaving Gel, Zvonko Paris, US$36; 19. Z Zegna eau de toilette, Ermenegildo Zegna, US$76
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01. Wool scarf, Hugo Boss, US$85, hugoboss.com; 02. Wine case, Rimowa , price upon request, rimowa.com; 03. Icewine Riesling, Tawse, US$35; 04. Premier cru classes Sauternes-Barsac, Chateau Coulet, US$76; 05. Sound link Bluetooth mobile speakers, Bose, US$350, bose.com; 06. iPhone 5, Apple, US$650, apple.com; 07. Leather wallet, Tiffany & Co., US$285, tiffany.com; 08. Seamaster watch, Omega, US$9,600, omegawatches.com; 09. Ducati Saddlebag, Tumi, US$495, tumi.com; 10. Sunglasses, Persol, US$380, persol.com; 11. Ultra Facial Moisturizer, Kiehl’s, US$20, kiehls.com; 12. Super Fluide UV Defense, Kiehl’s, US$38; 13. Ultimate Strength Hand Salve, Kiehl’s, US$22; 14. USB, Victorinox, US$40, victorinox.com; 15. Blue plaid shirt, Victorinox, US$135; 16. Zip sweater, Hugo Boss, US$275; 17. Ducati Carry-on, Tumi, US$995; 18. Brown leather gloves, Boss by Hugo Boss, US$135; 19. Boots, Brunello Cucinelli, US$1,150, brunellocucinelli.com
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show up the scenery with wardrobe classics, from buttery leathers to chunky knits.
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bundle up with a chic wardrobe and blend in with locals as you stroll the stra en in style.
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01. Quilted leather bag, Chanel, US$3,900, chanel.com; 02. iPad case, Rimowa, US$280, rimowa.com; 03. Sunglasses, Tiffany & Co., US$290, tiffany.com; 04. Silk scarf, Porsche, US$175, porsche-design.com; 05. Makeup Case, Rimowa, US$570; 06. Silver luggage tag, Tiffany & Co., US$85; 07. Wool and leather gloves, Chanel, US$1,075; 08. Cream suede boots, Hermès, US$2,500, hermes.com; 09. Lipstick, Givenchy, US$36, givenchy.com; 10. Coco noir eau de parfum, Chanel, US$98; 11. Atlas silver bangle, Tiffany & Co., US$1,500; 12. Silver clutch, Tiffany & Co., US$130; 13. Compact, Aerin, US$70, aerin.com; 14. H-watch on leather band, Hermès, US$2,300; 15. Blue wallet, Longchamp, US$225; longchamp.com; 16. VintagE case, Rimowa, price upon request; 17. Yellow jacket, Hugo Boss, US$125, hugoboss.com; 18. Cream cashmere sweater, J. Crew, US$498, jcrew.com
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photos: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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01. Red rain jacket, Barbour, US$450, barbour.com; 02. Deluxe iPhone case, Gizmon iCA, US$60, gizmon.com; 03. Sunglasses, Mood Eyewear, US$225, moodeyewear.com; 04. Yellow knapsack, Fjallraven Kanken, US$75, fjallraven.us; 05. Water bottle, Klean Kanteen, US$20, kleankanteen.com; 06. Neon pencil set, Hudson’s Bay Company, US$15, hbc.com; 07. Limited edition suitcase by Crash, Tumi, US$445, tumi.com; 08. Stuffed fox, Drake General Store, US$40, drakegeneralstore.ca; 09. Skateboard, Pennytime, US$110, pennyskateboards.com; 10. Watch, Swatch, US$110, swatch.com; 11. Little pouch radio, Le Sportsac, US$42, lesportsac.com; 12. Woven hat, Quicksilver, US$30, quiksilver.com; 13. DVD player, pottery barn, Price Upon Request, potterybarn.com; 14. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amulet Books, US$14, abramsbooks.com; 15. Teal runners, Lacoste, US$75, lacoste.com; 16. Earphones, Coloud, US$35, coloud.com
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Out of T h i s Wo r l d
Fairmont Magazine
Land, sea and a whole lot of fantasy went into the winning shots from this year’s Flash Forward photography contest.
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previous page: Pond, Amanda Arcuri, canada; left: hole, From the series “Nearly West,” walker Pickering, united states; below: My mother once said to me: there are four directions, pick yours, From the series “Midnight Sun Dream,” vALENTINA QUINTANO, united kingdom; opposite: Feedback, from the series “Land Ends,” melissa moore, united kingdom
Local Exposure
Currently in its ninth year, Magenta’s Flash Forward contest is open to emerging photographers from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. In collaboration with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, the competition shines light on future talent by way of a festival at Fairmont Battery Wharf in Boston, USA, and through student workshops in Toronto, Canada. Magenta, a nonprofit arts publisher, also produces a hardcover coffee-table book to celebrate the winning photographs, and fine-art printmaker Eye Buy Art sells limited editions of select photos. Stephanie McBride flashforwardfestival.com, eyebuyart.com, magentafoundation.org, fairmont.com/battery-wharf-boston
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Arts & Entertainment
Spa & Fitness
Food & Drink
Sports & Adventure
Shopping & Style
Leadership & Philanthropy
Fairmont Destinations
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photo: ROGER FLEET
Mythical Falls
Fairmont Zimbali Lodge — Built on an eco estate and celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2013, Fairmont Zimbali Lodge is a bucket-list destination for wildlife enthusiasts. Zimbali and the surrounding inland of KwaZuluNatal province are home to natural wonders such as the 310-foot-high Howick Falls, also known as KwaNogqaza (Place of the Tall One). According to local legend, the falls house Inkanyamba, a giant serpent. Only local sangomas (witch doctors) are permitted to call upon the creature, who is believed to hold the spirits of ancestors. fairmont.com/zimbali-lodge
Passions
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Space Craft
The Fairmont Royal York — As Toronto continues its architectural revitalization, so too does The Fairmont Royal York, with an upcoming revamp of the 1929 landmark. During your stay, see some of Toronto’s finest modern architecture while polishing up on your Canadian art history with trips to the Art Gallery of Ontario (pictured), the Royal Ontario Museum and the TIFF Lightbox. Finish your day at the Royal York’s The Library Bar, where you can try a pint of honey beer made from the hotel’s rooftop hives. fairmont.com/royal-york-toronto
Arts & Entertainment
Wild Moment
The Savoy, A Fairmont Managed Hotel
— London’s Abbey Road Studios welcomed Silver Clef-awardwinner Jessie Ware this past September to kick off the Record a Song Experience, presented in collaboration with The Savoy. Starting in 2014, the Fairmont-managed hotel will be offering guests a two-night stay, along with the chance to lay down a track with the help of professionals at the iconic studios. Crooners receive a copy of the recording, professionally mixed and mastered. fairmont.com/savoy
Middle Ground Fairmont The Palm, Dubai
— The hemispheres collide musically in Coke Studio Middle East, Season 2. The music television series chronicles experimental recording sessions that bring together well-known Eastern and Western artists to create an original fusion song. The show’s second season was filmed in part at Fairmont The Palm, Dubai. The resort also hosted featured artists, including Edward Maya, Nelly and Myriam Fares.
Behind the Screens Fairmont The Palm, Dubai
— In designing the recently opened Fairmont The Palm, Dubai, the hotel played upon the ancient Arabian art of mashrabiya, decorative latticework that promotes airflow and protects from the sun. If you like what you see, reserve the Arts of Arabia package and visit the historic Bastakiya Quarter of Dubai to learn about Bedouin architecture, then peruse Middle Eastern antiquities at the Miraj Islamic Art Centre. Guests even receive an art-inspired gift to take home. fairmont.com/palm-dubai
fairmont.com/palm-dubai
photo: universal music group (jessie ware)
promos Perfume 101
Concert Series
Christmas in Scottsdale
Follow your nose to Galimard with one of Fairmont Monte Carlo’s fragrance packages. Opt for a perfumery workshop in Èze Village and create an original scent, followed by a soothing aromatherapy massage. If you feel like something more hands on, ask about touring the flower fields of Grasse during rose harvest.
From rocker Colin James to crooner Emeli Sandé, the Sounds of Fairmont program works in collaboration with the Universal Music Group to bring emerging and legendary artists to select Fairmont properties. Fairmont President’s Club members can enjoy VIP meet and greets and reserved seating.
Ring in the holidays in sunny Arizona with the Christmas at the Princess Family Package. From November to January, the desert hotel becomes a winter wonderland with activities like ice-skating and visits from Santa Claus for the kids (and fireside winter cocktails for the grown-ups).
Fairmont Monte Carlo —
fairmont.com/monte-carlo
Select properties —
fairmont.com/partnerships
Fairmont Scottsdale Princess —
fairmont/scottsdale.com Fairmont Magazine
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Passions
An App a Day
Select properties — Finding it hard to stay in shape on the road? Fairmont has partnered with Reebok to create a new fitness app for your smartphone. The tool provides customized workout plans to suit your lifestyle and schedule, no matter where you are. Users also gain access to tips from fitness pros such as Strala Yoga’s Tara Stiles and master trainer Amy Dixon. Plus, the app has a built-in reward system to keep you motivated when the going gets tough. fairmont.com // reebok.com
Spa & Fitness pag e 2 2
Feng Shuied Fairmont Peace Hotel
— Leave rest and relaxation to Mother Nature. In Shanghai, Fairmont Peace Hotel’s Willow Stream Spa offers treatments that draw from the Earth using natural ingredients like juniper and fennel. Settle in for a Wisdom scrub, or sign up for the Gold Finesse – a treatment that leaves the skin radiant and smooth while simultaneously relaxing the body, mind and soul. fairmont.com/peace-hotel-shanghai pag e 1 9
Happy Feet Fairmont Le Montreux Palace
— According to fitness experts, sticking to the same old workout routine day after day can cause your progress to plateau. Try changing your regimen with Fairmont’s unique yoga classes. From sun salutations atop a paddleboard in Hawaii to hanging from an aerial yoga hammock in Scottsdale, these strengthbuilding programs help switch up your everyday exercises.
— After a weekend of hiking or skiing the Swiss Alps, Fairmont has just the thing to soothe tired feet. Built in 1906, Fairmont Le Montreux Palace, overlooking stunning Lake Geneva, provides the Happy Feet package: Start the day with a breakfast buffet at the quaint La Palmeraie, followed by a yoga or Pilates class, and finish with a 60-minute foot massage lesson. Relax in the Willow Stream Spa afterward and enjoy a complimentary spa gift bag.
fairmont.com
fairmont.com/montreux
Hold That Pose Select properties
promos
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Soothing Slopes
Fairmont Fit
Lounge Service
Prep yourself for a day on the slopes at Fairmont Heritage Place, Franz Klammer Lodge, in Telluride, Colorado. Loosen up with a yoga class, and recover with an après-ski session in Himmel Spa that includes a course on skin care for President’s Club members.
Whether you’re a fitness buff or just looking to blow off a little steam, Fairmont Fit provides Fairmont’s President’s Club members with training essentials, courtesy of Reebok. From a preloaded MP3 player to ZigLite running shoes, you’ll be workoutready wherever your travels take you.
fairmont.com/klammer-lodge-telluride
fairmont.com/fpc/fairmont-fit
Travelers to Canada already know where to go to wind down before and after flights: the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge. This summer, Fairmont hosted its first pop-up zone in Toronto’s lounge, which included treats from the hotel’s lifestyle partners and bonus Aeroplan points. Look for the next event in the Vancouver airport. fairmont.com
photo: reebok (opposite)
Fairmont Heritage Place, Franz Klammer Lodge —
Select properties —
Select properties —
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Savor Sonoma
Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa — Whether you’re a longtime oenophile or just wine curious, try Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa’s Sommelier Apprentice package. The getaway offers a VIP tour of Benziger Family Winery, a four-course tasting menu in the Michelin-rated Santé restaurant, and sommelier tours to two Sonoma wineries of your choice. This package has all you need to refine your palate. fairmont.com/sonoma
Food & Drink pag e 1 6
Edible Gems Fairmont Jaipur
— Jaipur is as well known for its Kundankari jewelry as it is for its sweets. Now guests can combine the two with Fairmont Jaipur’s Passion of Chocolate Jewelry package. The experience includes a chocolate jewelry session with the hotel’s pastry chef followed by a five-course tasting menu, or make that six courses – your handmade gems make a delectable dessert. fairmont.com/jaipur
À la Cart
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Taste the Town
Fairmont Pacific Rim
— Vancouver is food truck crazy and, among the 140 roaming offerings, you’re sure to find a favorite. Reserve Fairmont Pacific Rim’s Food Truck Feast package, and enjoy accommodation at the oceanfront property as well as access to a Street Eats tour for two with Vancouver Foodie Tours. Track down trucks like Soho Road for fresh-from-the-tandoor-oven naan, Tacofino for spicy-chocolate Diablo cookies, and Mogu Japanese Street Eats for chicken karaage laced with a crave-inducing chili sauce.
The Fairmont Chateau Whistler
— Whistler isn’t just a ski resort village – it’s also a culinary hotspot. Cozy up to the fireside with a Modern Classics Cocktail from The Fairmont Chateau Whistler’s Mallard Lounge, then head to The Grill Room and dig into a Pacific sablefish with bordelaise and marrow. fairmont.com/whistler
fairmont.com/pacific-rim-vancouver // foodietours.ca
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promos
Wine Club
Caspian Delights
New Nobu
Gourmet grocer Dean & Deluca bring Napa Valley’s most compelling wines to your door with a new Wine Club. Sign up for one of three tiers and you’ll receive a selection of bottles quarterly, complete with tasting notes, food pairing tips and invitations to attend exclusive events. (Open to US residents only.)
Foodies get their fill at Fairmont Baku’s five restaurants. The hotel, located in the city’s dramatic Flame Towers, opened its doors in June 2013 and offers guests everything from an old-world Champagne-and-caviar bar to a gourmet burger joint. Dine in the Azerbaijani metropolis while enjoying homeland dishes.
Celebrity chef Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa decided to make Nobu at Fairmont Monte Carlo a permanent fixture. The Japanese fusion restaurant, which first opened at the hotel as a pop-up shop, serves classics like black cod yuzu miso and wagyu gyoza, all “made with kokoro” (from the heart).
Fairmont partnership —
fairmont.com // deandeluca.com
Fairmont Baku —
fairmont.com/baku
Fairmont Monte Carlo —
fairmont.com/monte-carlo Fairmont Magazine
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Passions
Ride the Rockies
The Fairmont Banff Springs — Currently in its 125th year, The Fairmont Banff Springs has long been known as the “castle in the Rockies.” The UNESCO world heritage site boasts everything for outdoorsy types, from natural hot springs to world-famous skiing. This season, the Luxury Ski The Canadian Rockies package provides adventurists with the ultimate rush, with accommodation and tri-area ski passes. After a hearty complimentary breakfast, guests can take to the mountains in the morning and enjoy an aprèsski experience at the Willow Stream Spa. fairmont.com/banff-springs
Sports & Adventure
Into the Wild Fairmont Zimbali Lodge
— Built on a protected South African eco estate, the grounds of Fairmont Zimbali Lodge are home to many exotic flora and fauna. Join a wildlifespotting forest tour or just bask in the beautiful greens along the Tom Weiskopf-designed championship course. After a day of exploring, guests can indulge in seafood thali (a sampling of six different curries) at the lodge’s intimate Thandi Restaurant. fairmont.com/zimbali-lodge
Get on the Goodwood
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Select properties
— This past summer, Fairmont chefs and mixologists gathered for the social horseracing event of the season: Glorious Goodwood. Fairmont and the 300-yearold estate collaborated to create an afternoon tea, available at The Trilogy Bar, renamed in honor of Fairmont’s Savoy, Plaza and Peace hotels.
Court Cred
The Fairmont Acapulco Princess
— Game. Set. Match! Every year, The Fairmont Acapulco Princess hosts the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, better known as the Mexican Open. With red clay courts and night tennis, guests can enjoy the beach by day and play a few sets in the evening. Need to polish up on your racket skills? Ask for Tomás Flores, the resident pro, who has run the tennis program for the past 31 years.
Photos: Banff Lake Louise Tourism/Paul Zizka (Opposite); Getty images (monkeys)
fairmont.com // goodwood.co.uk
fairmont.com/acapulco
pr o m o s NYC for Kids
Toronto Family Fun
Tropical Trail
Tree houses are a rare sight in New York City, but children can still have a Magic Tree House experience. In partnership with Penguin Random House, The Plaza offers children passes to museums and events around the city, all themed on the books by Mary Pope Osbourne.
Take the whole family on an adventure and sign up for one of The Fairmont Royal York’s Families and Children packages. The hotel, in collaboration with Penguin Random House, offers activities ranging from an ultimate family slumber party to a trip to Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada.
Built in the 1920s, the Bermuda Railway runs the width of the island. The former track is now a beautiful hiking trail where explorers can take in the island’s pink sand beaches, exotic flora and breathtaking views of the sea.
The Plaza, A Fairmont Managed Hotel —
fairmont.com/the-plaza-new-york // magictreehouse.com
The Fairmont Royal York —
fairmont.com/royal-york-toronto
The Fairmont Southampton & The Fairmont Hamilton Princess —
fairmont.com/hamilton-bermuda // fairmont.com/southampton-bermuda Fairmont Magazine
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Passions
Silk Route
Fairmont Beijing — From its location in the heart of Beijing’s textiles district, Fairmont Beijing offers the Silk Market Insider package. Equipped with a market guidebook (which includes a list of top vendors) and a deluxe tote bag, guests enjoy a day of quality shopping, followed by a 60-minute foot massage to revitalize sore feet after exploring the city’s labyrinthine streets. And don’t worry about delicate treasures breaking in your suitcase – Fairmont takes care of the packing and shipping for you. fairmont.com/beijing
Shopping & Style
The Saks Experience Select properties
— Look and feel your best with the Saks Fifth Avenue shopping package. Guests can settle into their rooms on the Fairmont Gold floor before heading out for a day of shopping at Saks. Bonus: Take advantage of a complimentary in-store skincare consultation. Look for Saks packages at Fairmont hotels in Boston, New York, Chicago, Washington D.C. and San Francisco. fairmont.com // saksfifthavenue.com
Follow Your Passions
Fairmont properties worldwide
— Fairmont has partnered with premium bedding brand Casa Rovea to create a line of linens exclusively for use on Fairmont Gold floors. The Rovea family has been producing its super-soft line of sheets and towels in Italy for the past 37 years, and today uses organic cotton. Love that feeling? This holiday season, you’ll be able to purchase your own Rovea products in Fairmont stores and online.
— Follow your passions to your next holiday destination. Available exclusively to Fairmont President’s Club members, Fairmont’s Passion packages provide experiences tailored to your personal tastes, with activities and events designed for the artist, the athlete, the shopper, the spa-goer, the foodie and the philanthropist.
fairmontstore.com // www.parotex.it
fairmont.com/fpc/passion-packages
Between the Sheets Select properties
promos Chauffeured Shopping
Holts Couture
Fairmont Visa
Escape the Filipino heat with Fairmont Makati’s Chauffeured Shopping Escapade package, which takes guests from store to store and provides a personal shopper to ensure that they tour the city in style – from tucked-away boutiques to wide boulevards featuring shops that stock luxury brands like Gucci and Prada.
Visitors to select Fairmont locations across Canada can spend the weekend shopping in style. With accommodation for two and a $100 gift card to Holt Renfrew, Canada’s popular luxury department store, guests will enjoy a VIP retail experience.
Take the Fairmont experience with you wherever you go with the Fairmont Visa Signature Card. From complimentary nights at Fairmont properties to waived foreign transaction fees and airport lounge access, enjoy the rewards while you travel.
Fairmont Makati —
fairmont.com/makati
Select properties —
fairmont.com // holtrenfrew.com
Fairmont partnership —
fairmont.com/mag2 Fairmont Magazine
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Leadership & Philanthropy
Home of Their Own
Fairmont Zimbali Lodge & Fairmont Zimbali Resort
— South Africa’s Fairmont Zimbali Lodge and Fairmont Zimbali Resort recently partnered with nonprofit organization SummerHill House to help provide homes and personal transformation projects for orphaned and abandoned children in nearby villages. The first leg of the project will include the building of four homes for children in need. Guests who wish to give back should inquire about the Meetings That Matter program, or ask about donating 10 percent of their room revenue to a local charity. fairmont.com/zimbali-lodge // fairmont.com/zimbali-resort
Dinner in the Dark Fairmont Dubai
— Let your taste buds do the talking at Fairmont Dubai’s Blind Dining Nights, where guests eat dishes in the dark prepared by executive chef Lorraine Sinclair. With a portion of the proceeds going toward Sightsavers, a charity dedicated to blindness prevention, you too can help others out of the dark. fairmont.com/dubai // sightsavers.org
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Fairmont Magazine
Plug-In Power
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) & Fairmont
— Opting for sustainable transportation reduces greenhouse gas emissions for a greener future. That’s why Fairmont has paired with WWF to support Transportation rEVolution – a program aimed at reducing transportation emissions by encouraging the use of electric vehicles. Look for charging stations at select Fairmont hotels and resorts. fairmont.com // worldwildlife.org
Fairmont Destinations
Find Fairmont Worldwide Fairmont Gold floor property
Fairmont Hotels United States Austin Fairmont Austin (2016) Boston Fairmont Battery Wharf Boston The Fairmont Copley Plaza Chicago Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park Dallas The Fairmont Dallas Newport Beach Fairmont Newport Beach New York The Plaza, A Fairmont Managed Hotel Pittsburgh Fairmont Pittsburgh San Francisco Fairmont Heritage Place, Ghirardelli Square San Francisco The Fairmont San Francisco San Jose The Fairmont San Jose Santa Fe Fairmont Heritage Place, El Corazon de Santa Fe Santa Monica Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows Seattle The Fairmont Olympic Hotel Washington Fairmont Washington, D.C., Georgetown Canada Calgary The Fairmont Palliser Edmonton The Fairmont Hotel Macdonald Montréal Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth Ottawa Fairmont Château Laurier Toronto The Fairmont Royal York Vancouver Fairmont Pacific Rim Vancouver The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver Vancouver The Fairmont Vancouver Airport Vancouver The Fairmont Waterfront Winnipeg The Fairmont Winnipeg Europe Baku Fairmont Baku Hamburg Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten
Kyiv Fairmont Grand Hotel Kyiv London The Savoy, A Fairmont Managed Hotel Middle East and Africa Abu Dhabi Fairmont Bab Al Bahr Ajman Fairmont Ajman (2014) Amman Fairmont Amman (2015) Cairo Fairmont Heliopolis & Towers Cairo Fairmont Nile City Dubai Fairmont Dubai Makkah Makkah Clock Royal Tower, A Fairmont Hotel Nairobi Fairmont The Norfolk Riyadh Fairmont Business Gate, Riyadh (2014) Asia Beijing Fairmont Beijing Chengdu Fairmont Chengdu (2014) Jaipur Fairmont Jaipur Jakarta Fairmont Jakarta (2015) Makati City Fairmont Makati Nanjing Fairmont Nanjing (2013) Shanghai Fairmont Peace Hotel Singapore Fairmont Singapore Taiyuan Fairmont Taiyuan (2016)
Fairmont Resorts United States Hawai’i The Fairmont Orchid Maui The Fairmont Kea Lani Scottsdale Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Sonoma The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa Telluride Fairmont Heritage Place, Franz Klammer Lodge Canada Banff The Fairmont Banff Springs Charlevoix Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu Jasper The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge Lake Louise The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
Montebello Fairmont Kenauk Montebello Fairmont Le Château Montebello Mont Tremblant Fairmont Tremblant Quebec City Fairmont Le Château Frontenac Victoria The Fairmont Empress Whistler The Fairmont Chateau Whistler Asia Kunshan Fairmont Yangcheng Lake Mexico, Caribbean and Bermuda Acapulco The Fairmont Acapulco Princess Acapulco The Fairmont Pierre Marques Barbados The Fairmont Royal Pavilion Hamilton The Fairmont Hamilton Princess Riviera Maya Fairmont Mayakoba Southampton The Fairmont Southampton Europe Monte Carlo Fairmont Monte Carlo Montreux Fairmont Le Montreux Palace Moscow Fairmont Pekin Moscow (2016) St Andrews Fairmont St Andrews, Scotland Middle East and Africa Dubai Fairmont The Palm, Dubai Fujairah Fairmont Fujairah (2014) Masai Mara Fairmont Mara Safari Club Mount Kenya Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club Zimbali Fairmont Zimbali Lodge Zimbali Fairmont Zimbali Resort
For reservations,
please call +1 800 441 1414 in the United States and Canada, and +1 506 863 6310 internationally, or visit us at fairmont.com Fairmont Magazine
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Check Out
Holding Pattern Fairmont The Palm, Dubai — Different regions in the Arab world have always claimed their own unique interpretation of the carved wooden mashrabiya window screens, which date back to medieval times. When asked to incorporate authentic Arabic elements in a contemporary manner, the design team at Fairmont The Palm made the mashrabiya their own – more than 200 times. Find creative takes on the motif throughout the property, in lattice form as well as in relief works and incorporated into furniture. Local artisans and Eastern craftspeople were also encouraged to think outside of the (wooden) box, working with non-traditional materials like plaster of paris, gypsum and mother-of-pearl. Eve Thomas Fairmont Magazine
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If you’re not a Fairmont Visa Signature cardmember yet, visit fairmontcard.com/magvin*.
– Introducing Fairmont Vintages – Fairmont President’s Club’s exclusive new Wine Club Featuring three tiers of membership, this exclusive new club, developed in partnership with Dean & DeLuca will deliver the best of Napa Valley right to your doorstep each quarter, including access to Napa Valley private wine tastings*. Use your Fairmont Visa Signature ® Card to purchase your Fairmont Vintages membership and you’ll also receive 1 Fairmont Reward for every $1 spent.
To become a member of the Fairmont Vintages club, visit fairmontvintages.com.
*Accounts subject to credit approval. Restrictions and limitations apply. Fairmont credit cards are issued by Chase Bank USA, N.A. (“Chase”). See Fairmont.com.magvin for pricing and rewards details. Deliveries will be made in the third week of the following months: September, December, February and May. Please provide an address where someone is present to sign for the wine. Packages cannot be left at the address and need to be signed for release by someone of 21 years or older. Please note that delivery is subject to state laws governing the shipping of wine. Void where prohibited. Access to private tastings does not apply to the A Taste of Napa Valley tier. For complete program and offer details visit www.fairmontvintages.com. Chase is not responsible for offer fulfillment or the provision of or failure to provide the stated benefits and services. Participants agree to release and hold harmless officers, directors, employees, agents, and assigns of Chase and their respective successors, and affiliates from any and all liability or damage of any kind resulting from, or arising from, participation in the offer or acceptance, possession, use, misuse or non-use of the offer (including travel-related activity).
oyster perpe tual day-date ii in pl atinum
rolex
oyster perpetual and day-date are trademarks.