Table of contents for February 2018 in Robb Report

Wise Wines Grapes grown from vines as old as 150 years, from both the Old World and the New, create beautifully rare, complex, and balanced wines. robbreport.com/oldvinewines STORY OF THE MONTH Passion forPlanes How Jerry Yagen accidentally compiled a fleet of 70 ready-to-fly aircraft. robbreport.com / aircraftcollector READER SURVEY RESULTS Which dessert would you most want to share with your loved one? Our readers shared which sweets are the key to their Valentines’ hearts. WEB EXCLUSIVES OUR ONLINE GUIDE TO THE 2018 ROBB REPORT CAR OF THE YEAR FOR A COMPREHENSIVE RECAP OF THE COMPETITION, BEHIND-THE-SCENES INSIGHTS, AND A CLOSER LOOK AT THE TOP PERFORMERS, VISIT ROBBREPORT.COM’S DEDICATED SHOWCASE FOR THE SHOWDOWN. The High Five SHOW SEASON Top Vehicles Unveiled at the 2017 Los Angeles Auto…

1 BREAK FOR BALI COMO UMA CANGGU “I’m following up an unsuccessful Dry January with some detox in paradise at the new Como Uma Canggu. Como’s third resort in Bali opens this month with a holistic spa, a juice bar, and healthy Como Shambhala cuisine focusing on raw ingredients. In between Pilates classes and surf lessons with the pioneers from Tropicsurf, I’ll master the subtle art of relaxation on my villa’s private terrace.” —JACKIE CARADONIO 2 THE MOUNTAINS ARE CALLING BOULDERS AT MOUNTAINSIDE AT NORTHSTAR “Surrounded by granite outcroppings near Lake Tahoe in Northern California, Boulders is a new residential development within the ski-in/ski-out Mountainside at Northstar community. Each of the 19 townhomes and single-family estates will offer sweeping views and access to a community fitness center and pool. The…

KOH SAMUI—Thailand’s mellow island alternative to lively Phuket—has a new paradise on its picture-perfect shores. The Ritz-Carlton, Koh Samui (ritzcarltoncom .) opened in October on 58 beachfront acres, not far from Wat Phra Yai, the colorful temple known for its golden Big Buddha. Though the resort is rife with the brand’s trademark high-gloss style—spacious suites, manicured gardens, polished service, and all—it also incorporates the spirit of its gilded neighbor with traditional touches like stilt-house-style villas dressed in carved teak furnishings and natural stone. Along with the requisite luxuries (including a 40,000-square-foot Spa Village), the 175-room property incorporates the local scene into its everyday experiences, too. Guests can train with a Muay Thai champion in the boxing ring, swim with more than 50 species of fish in the private reef, and…

the italian job Tracing the origins of any sophisticated Italian design usually leads to a charming studio or a centuries-old factory. The striking new Coup de Foudre collection from Patrizia Garganti (starting at $2,988; patriziagarganti.com ) has just such an Italian backstory—in three parts. Designer Roberto Lazzeroni, the mastermind behind the chic series, is based in Pisa. All of the glass—in clear, amber, or satin—is handblown on the Venetian island of Murano. And every piece, brass-and-aluminum structure included, is assembled by hand at the Patrizia Garganti headquarters in Florence. Various models and finish options are available. —ARIANNE NARDO born-again beauty Inspired by one of the late Carroll Shelby’s famed fastbacks, Classic Recreations founder Jason Engel has flexed his own automotive muscle with the GT500CR Classic Shelby Mustang (classic-recreations.com). Each commissioned…

“For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” -WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, ROMEO AND JULIET All the World’s a Stage $367,500 “Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies is one of the two most important works in the English language, culturally, historically, and linguistically—the other, of course, being the King James Bible,” says Christopher Sokol of London-based Sokol Books. The dealer is bringing a 1632 edition of the Bard’s seminal work to the California International Antiquarian Book Fair, which runs February 9 through 11 at the Pasadena Convention Center. In explaining the volume’s rarity, Sokol says, “It is from this version of the text, published just 16 years after the author’s death, that all modern versions derive.” sokol.co.uk; cabookfair.com From the New World $144,700 The seventh-century-AD Maya…

ART & ANTIQUES ARTWORK WANTED Inherited American paintings wanted. Premiums paid for new-to-the-market family-owned 19th and 20th listed artists. Hudson River school, American impressionists, modern, and postwar are desired. If you have one painting or an entire collection please call or e-mail Newportart. Contact: (401) 954-5078; E-mail: jay@newportart.com FINANCE & BUSINESS CONVENTIONAL & HARD MONEY LOANS U.S & International locations: Debt/Equity financing considered for new technologies, financial services, aviation, Internet/IT, oil & gas-energy, mining, gaming/ leisure, real estate and asset-backed lending. No up-front fees. Contact: 1 (877) 287-1327 toll free or 1 (954) 696-5311 LIFE IS GREAT! The most liberating feeling: knowing how to make consistent, confident gains on the stock market! We teach you how to day trade stock options using one very effective strategy for stunning daily gains.…

“Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car.”-E. B. WHITE THE AUTHOR OF SUCH diverse books as Charlotte’s Web and The Elements of Style was notoriously mobile for one whose profession required long hours stationed at a desk. According to his friend and colleague James Thurber, while on staff at the New Yorker, White—an extremely private individual—would abscond from his office whenever a visitor sought an introduction. In these instances, his method of making his hasty getaways was not an automobile but the building’s fire escape. Motion and locomotion, as White observed, are forces that forged our action-obsessed culture—particularly in the United States. The things we seek are inevitably elsewhere, and for many of us, our means of movement is as important as our desired…

UNIQUE AMONG châteaux in France’s Médoc region, Cos d’Estournel contrasts dramatically with its neighbors’ more conventional architecture thanks to majestic, pagoda-shaped turrets that rise above its palm trees and intricately carved walls. This Asian influence continues inside, where decorative carvings feature the elephant, an emblem of strength, memory, and wisdom. The wine is no less distinct, as it is crafted from a surprisingly diverse terroir. Founded in 1811 by Louis Gaspard d’Estournelwho, as a result of his predilection for Indian-inspired motifs, was known as the Maharajah of Saint-Estèphethe estate now comprises 61 separate plots, or crus, all of which flourish under the direction of the present owner, hotelier Michel Reybier. One of these blocks serves as the source of a rare new release: Cos100 (estournel.com ), a single-varietal wine created…

A Surreal World $2 million–$3.38 million “With its clear, crisp hyperrealist execution and its compelling subject that plays upon the conceptual ideas of artifice, illusion, and representation, René Magritte’s oil on canvas Les signes du soir (1926) epitomizes one of the fundamental themes of the artist’s work: the notion of a picture within a picture,” says Olivier Camu, deputy chairman of impressionist and modern art at Christie’s. The rare early canvas, which was included in the artist’s breakthrough one-man show in 1927, headlines the house’s Art of the Surreal sale in London on February 27. christies.com An Enduring Legend Estimate Upon Request “The 1964 Le Mans–winning Ferrari 275P is one of the most important cars ever to come to auction,” says Matthieu Lamoure, managing director of Artcurial Motorcars, of…

“Wake up early, grab a cup of good coffee, and take a stroll through the French Laundry Culinary Garden.”THOMAS KELLER “NapaValleyismorethan a wine-countrypostcardsprung tolife,” saysThomasKeller. “And it’s more than the recent wildfires, too.” Like most locals, the Michelin three-star chef and founder of Northern California’s acclaimed French Laundry 1 (thomaskeller.com) is eager to put his hometown’s recent devastation—a series of fires that scorched hundreds of thousands of acres but left the iconic valley largely, and mercifully, intact—in his rearview mirror. Indeed, there is much on the horizon, and as long-established wineries rebuild and new hotels and restaurants prepare to open their doors, Napa’s message for the world is clear: Now is the time to visit. Beyond the singed treetops, visitors will find plenty of new life sprouting all the way…

THE MOST INTRIGUING watch in the brand’s comprehensive 150th-anniversary collection, the new IWC Tribute to Pallweber Edition “150 Years” (iwc.com) celebrates an obscure and not entirely successful entry in the company’s history. “Our brief was to be very, very close to the displays and look of the old Pallweber watches,” says Stefan Ihnen, technical director at IWC, “but to create them with absolutely modern technique.” First commercialized by IWC in the 1880s, the original Pallweber system—named for the Austrian father-and-son team that invented it—was one of the first attempts to create an entirely digital display for a mechanical pocket watch. While popular at first, the instantly jumping numbered disks under the dial proved difficult to manufacture and enormously power hungry. Initial models could barely run for 24 hours before rewinding.…

MENSWEAR DESIGNER Brett Johnson’s (brettjohnson.co) personal sneaker collection hovers around 700 pairs, and his latest acquisitions—refined suede-and-leather models from Berluti, Brunello Cucinelli, and Tom Ford—are a departure from the hip athletic models he once chased. Interestingly, Johnson’s shifting taste in sneakers mirrors his progression as a designer, from sporty to casual elegance. The 28-year-old, who started dabbling in fashion nearly 5 years ago with sporty clothing items, opened his first concept store in New York’s SoHo neighborhood last fall. Stocked with his full range of elegant luxury clothing, outerwear, and knitwear, the space is also appointed with wood-and-Lucite furnishings that he helped design and are available by special order. “I want people to feel like they are walking into my home, or really my closet,” says Johnson, who most days…

“WE DIDN’T MAKE it contemporary, hip, and cool,” says designer Alexandra Champalimaud of her most recent hotel project. Coming from a tastemaker of her caliber, such a disclosure is especially refreshing—an assurance that the property’s interiors will not be templated. Champalimaud is, after all, a master at reimagining august dowager hotels for the modern traveler while preserving the essence that gave them relevance and meaning in their day; witness, for example, Manhattan’s Waldorf Astoria, Los Angeles’s Hotel Bel-Air, London’s Dorchester, and the soon-to-be-revealed Raffles Hotel in Singapore. The designer’s latest—the quietly luxurious, under-the-radar Trout-beck (troutbeck.com)—is a 45-acre estate in Amenia, New York, boasting 37 guest rooms and nine suites. The 18th-century homestead of poet and naturalist Myron Benton—and later of publisher, poet, and botanist Col. Joel Elias Spingarn (a founder…

“I take great joy in being surrounded by art and being inspiredby art, and it is that great joy I wishto share.” -AXEL VERVOORDT “I just knew this statue was destined to be here,” says Axel Vervoordt of a lacquer-and-gilt-wood Song-dynasty Luóhàn, recounting its acquisition at auction more than a decade ago. “I saw a postage-stamp-sized image of it in the catalog and it just called out to me.” The 13th-century seated figure represents one of the original followers of the Buddha who has attained nirvana—having followed the Eightfold Path to enlightenment—and thus has been freed from want of worldly things. Its emotional resonance may seem a bit of a paradox for the Belgian tastemaker, who over the past five decades has built a formidable reputation creating sublime spaces and…

WHAT goes into the making of a collectible bottle of whisky is as much about intuition as it is about chemistry. And that instinct grows stronger under the tutelage of a sage. Brian Kinsman, a chemist by training and the malt master at Glenfiddich (glenfiddich.com), is now a whisky whisperer in his own right, having sharpened his talents by working with one of the industry’s most revered virtuosos: David C. Stewart. “Days working with David honed that gut feeling for how the distillery’s casks work,” Kinsman says. Yet in this process, method abets instinct. The culling begins as early as 10 to 12 years into a whisky’s aging process. Most of Glenfiddich’s whisky ends its time in barrel at this stage to be blended into the brand’s signature 12-year-old offering.…

1 STICK WITH ME SWEETS Don’t be fooled by their elegant exterior—these bonbons from New York City’s Stick with Me Sweets are not just for show. The Nolita chocolatier combines flavors that range from cozy to chic—think bourbon maple pecan, pretzel with peanut-butter praline, and black sesame with mango passion fruit. swmsweets.com ($88 for a box of 24) 2 LADURÉE When it comes to expressing amour in style, iconic Parisian bakery and chocolatier Ladurée has all the right ingredients; it’s been perfecting each sweet recipe since opening its doors in 1862. This selection of delicate macarons detailed with edible gold leaf reflects a firm foundation. laduree.com ($35 for six) 3 ROCOCO CHOCOLATES A favorite of London’s gourmands, Rococo Chocolates delivers a delicious new take on the usual chocolate-and-strawberries combo with…