This weekend John Varvatos opens his long-awaited store at 315 Bowery, the address formerly belonging to punk-rock cradle CBGB. In addition to all of the designer's lines, the shop will sell vinyl records, along with vintage-seventies hi-fi equipment (for said records), and it even retains many of the space's iconic features. (Happily, this does not include the bathrooms.) "We're not reopening CBGB, and we're not trading off the name," Varvatos says. "When the club closed, the choices were it was either going to become a deli or a Bank of America. This way, it's like keeping a piece of history." Toward that end, CBGB's walls remain as they were, stickered and chockablock with graffiti. There's a new, smaller stage for monthly performances from up-and-coming musicians, too. The designer's also launching a limited-edition specialty line, 315 Bowery, to be carried at the store in the fall. "It's intact," he says. "When you're in there, you feel like you're in a club." Sure, albeit one with cleaner floors.
John Varvatos, 315 Bowery, (212) 358-0315, johnvarvatos.com

As you might not be aware, Sunday is Tartan Day, a holiday that honors Scottish-Americans—think of it as a lesser-known alternative to St. Pat's. To celebrate, Diageo is adding seven new single-malt Scotches to its Classic Malts Selection, with only 600 bottles available of each. Our pick: The 28-year-old Port Ellen, made in Islay from the last cask the distillery ever produced. Like its younger neighbor, the Laphroaig 10, it's a cask-strength monster, with enough citrus and smoke to get you through to Tartan Day '09. Just be warned: It cost 300 bucks, but you can find some lower-priced alternatives in our Scotch hotlist.

If you happen to be planning an excursion to Poland this weekend—pack for fog, by the way—expect to notice some exceptionally well-dressed hipsters. The reason? Copenhagen's own Wood Wood is opening a temporary shop in the basement of Comme des Garçons' Warsaw guerrilla store. The space will feature its spring/summer '08 lines—think urban prepster studying abroad in Scandinavia, with baggy stacked-leg khakis (pictured), chambray work shirts, and modified tracksuits. Given that Wood Wood's Berlin boutique (the brand's other two shops are in Denmark) carries a full assortment of Comme, think of it as a favor returned.
Wood Wood at Comme des Garçons Guerrilla Store +4822 III, ul. Koszykowa 1, Warsaw, Poland

As we mentioned yesterday, Ronnie Wood's Scream Gallery in London just opened a show by Warhol acolyte Rene Ricard. Last night's opening party was a family affair: Represented clans included the Schnabels, the de Villeneuves, and (of course) members of the family Stone.

Click here for the slideshow >

Missed Mr. West's set for Takashi Murakami's enormous show at the Brooklyn Museum? No worries—you can still check out 18,500 square feet of Murakami's loony, manga-inspired work, including favorites like Hiropon, a seven-foot sculpture of a more-than-amply endowed young woman jumping a rope made of milk spurting from her breasts. (That's one of her busty girlfriends, pictured.) Like the slightly different version of the exhibit that hit L.A.'s MOCA last fall, the exhibition will house a pop-up Louis Vuitton boutique to sell the Jacobs-Murakami designed handbags; this time, you can pick up a new print cocreated by the duo for the occasion. Think of it as a way to keep your girlfriend occupied while you sneak off for a closer look at Hiropon.
© Murakami, tomorrow through July 13, the Brooklyn Museum, Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, (718) 638-5000, brooklynmuseum.org

He's taught you to whip it, scored four Wes Anderson movies, and last year, he brought you tableware, jewelry, and rugs. Devo cofounder Mark Mothersbaugh's latest creation? Wallpaper. The Black Forest collection—including "Snakes in a Tree," pictured—was just unveiled at L.A.'s Luxehaus and is part of his ongoing collaboration with Walteria Living. The papers won't be available until mid-June, by which time we wouldn't be surprised if Mothersbaugh has designed a whole housing complex to hang them in.
Luxehaus, 1410 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, (866) 405-LUXE, walterialiving.com

Gregory Crewdson's elaborately staged tableaux portray an otherworldly suburbia—a seedier, more surreal side of Cheever Country. (Small wonder that his biggest fans include Rick Moody and Yo La Tengo, who used his work for the cover of 2000's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out.) But his latest photographs, on display tomorrow at NYC's Luhring Augustine gallery, trade suburbia for the outdoors and draw inspiration from the changing seasons. (Don't worry—that Ice Storm-level chilliness remains.) The works also complete his years-in-the-making Beneath the Roses cycle, which has been collected in a book of the same name. Consider this the final chapter.
Gregory Crewdson, tomorrow through May 3, Luhring Augustine, 531 West 24th St., NYC, luhringaugustine.com

Apartments designed exclusively for motorcycle owners? Believe it—Tokyo's curvaceous new NE complex was created to give the cramped city's bikers a little bit of breathing room. Every unit has access to a basement-level garage that opens out into a C-shaped courtyard where residents can fully rotate their two-wheelers before heading out on the road. Necessity, mother of invention, and all that.

[Dezeen]

Stüssy has already opened three stores this year (in D.C., Vegas, and Toronto), but tomorrow, it's opening what might be its biggest yet: StüssyDeluxe.com. As the name suggests, you'll be able to buy the brand's premium Deluxe line, whose well-constructed, smartly detailed clothes include this street-ready jacket in polished Prince of Wales check (pictured). And by the way: If you happen to be in our nation's capital tonight, stop by the label's party at Chloe—and tell deejay Biz Markie we say hello.

Richard Kern is one of the reigning kings of kink, as anyone familiar with his eye-popping 1997 book New York Girls can tell you. But the photographer and filmmaker—he's directed videos for Sonic Youth and Marilyn Manson—shows a softer side in his new tome, Looker. You'll find none of his trademark unvarnished fetish snaps here; there's nary a Soho sex slave or doe-eyed dominatrix in the bunch. Rather, the book is an homage to voyeurism, with a vintage feel: girls glimpsed unknowingly exposing themselves while washing up, watching TV, or walking the dog. And, you know, making out with each other.
$26.40, available at Amazon.com

Meet the world's smallest full-HD camcorder, out this spring from Sony. The HDR-TG1—seriously, would it kill 'em to give these things catchier names?—shoots in 1080p, and its dimensions (4.7 by 2.5 inches) are basically the same as the iPhone's. (At a flabby 10 ounces, though, it's about twice as heavy—we think you'll manage.) The biggest flaws: It's a bit of a risk for anyone who has ever, say, sat on their cell phone. And it uses Sony's proprietary (and pricy) Memory Sticks for storage. Still interested? It's out this May for 900 bucks; you can preorder online starting tomorrow.

ALSO: If you're in the market for a still camera, check out Casio's Exilim EX-F1—it shoots at a ridiculous 60 frames per second (the world's fastest camera). Read David Pogue's take here.

Last night, Whisky Live, a multicity tasting event where whisky wonks try the industry's newest offerings (and old standards), made its annual stop in New York. We're still a bit glassy-eyed, but we remember enough to give you our picks for the night's four best tipples:

Bulleit Bourbon
Looking to expand your repertoire beyond Maker's Mark and Knob Creek? Consider the small-batch glory of Bulleit. Based on a family recipe from the 1830s, this seven-year-old whisky boasts the highest rye count (28%) of any bourbon on the market, giving it a taste that's more spicy than sweet, and a long oaky finish that reminds us of our other favorite type of whisky, Scotch.
$32, parkavenueliquor.com

Click here for the rest of the best >

Looking for some upside to the endless campaign season? The Times' Campaign Stops blog has been running some interesting posts by Steven Heller about the candidates' use of graphic design. In the latest, Brian Collins (of Helios House fame) dissects Barack Obama's choice of the Gotham font, which he describes as "substantial yet friendly." (Wonder why Barry chose that one...) He also has good things to say about signage from McCain and Clinton—so maybe we're closing the design gap after all.

Throughout the seventies and eighties, poet, art critic, and Warhol Factory fixture Rene Ricard played a key role in the rise of artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Julian Schnabel. So it's fitting that the latter's 21-year-old son Vito—who's been curating shows since way back in 2003—is now shining the spotlight on Ricard by putting together the first UK exhibition of the writer's paintings at London's Scream Gallery. Though the precocious curator has known Ricard his entire life (and even bought his first piece from him), he only conceived of the Scream show after seeing the 62-year-old's Mermaid canvas (pictured, left) last September. "He hasn't made a lot of figurative paintings," Schnabel says. "So this was pretty exciting. The guy's been a real invisible force in the art world for years, and nobody really knows he can paint." He admits he ran into a few snags getting his old pal across the pond for tonight's opening. "Rene hasn't even been out of New York county since 1971, so we had to go to St. Vincent's to get his birth certificate for a passport." Those with similar concerns need not fear: Schnabel plans to bring another Ricard show stateside later this year.
Rene Ricard opens tonight at Scream Gallery, 34 Bruton St., London, (44) 207-493-7388, screamlondon.co.uk

Thirty-five years ago, a Motorola executive named Martin Cooper became the first guy to cross the street while yakking on a cell phone, thus making him the very first Inconsiderate Cell Phone Man. But he wasn't just setting an obnoxious trend—he was also making one of the first-ever calls on a portable device, the brick-size DynaTAC (remember those?). Phones have been shrinking ever since.

[Wired]

When it comes to spring sneaks, we know you have some options. But few tell a tale as well as SeaVees. Each of the new California brand's four editions is named after a particular date in the Golden State's history. For instance, the 10/68 oxfords commemorate the premiere of Bullitt; the perforated leather 01/68, pictured, honors the release of the Eames Chaise. (Suede and canvas shoes round out the collection.) But act fast: Production is limited to 356 total pairs, which means 04/08 might be remembered for sold-out kicks.
SeaVees shoes, $125 to $195, available at Jeffrey New York and Fred Segal Los Angeles, seavees.com

Clarks Desert Boots are a timeless classic, but this spring, they're sporting a welcome canvas makeover. (You can imagine Stanley donning a pair to search for Dr. Livingstone.) Unfortunately, they were produced in limited quantities and are already sold out, with no plans at present for more. The truly intrepid, however, can try their luck at Chapterworld.com, a Japanese-only online store that has them in stock—for now. (No such luck, by the way, at English-language sibling Chapterworld.net.) But be warned: The shoes will cost you some serious yen—16,590, to be exact, or around 163 bucks. Steep? Sure, but you can always save by skipping socks.

Don't ask me what the Andromeda Botanical Gardens look like, or even the Mount Gay Rum factory. In four days in Barbados, I rarely left one enormous white-sand beach—and it was only a 60-second hike down the cliffs on which my hotel, the Crane, was perched. I don't regret it. After all, the distraction-free island's an ideal getaway for anyone (like me) who suffers pangs of guilt from resisting a checklist of see-and-do. Instead, Barbados is gloriously, sunnily, "No worries, man"-bland—as cricket-blessed and rum-obsessed as Jamaica, but without the pesky racial tension and batty-bashing. Or anything, really, to do while you're there.

The Warhol Factory X Levi's X Damien Hirst experience rolls on tomorrow with a pop-up shop inside Fred Segal Man. The 600-square-foot space will, of course, sell you the collaboration's clothes—including T-shirts, jeans, and a waxed-denim motorcycle jacket lined with a Hirst print—but the main draw is new "work" from Hirst himself: basically, two pairs of 501s splattered with a kaleidoscope of paint. (Nice work if you can get it.) You'll also find the partnership's recent book, but for a limited time only: The doors close in June.
Warhol Factory X Levi's X Damien Hirst pop-up store, tomorrow through June, Fred Segal Man Santa Monica, 420 Broadway, Santa Monica, (310) 395-9792

Punk photographer Jenny Lens' infamous up-skirt shot of Debbie Harry rolling around onstage at The Whisky in 1977 helped Blondie gain worldwide fame—and it also got Lens banned from ever shooting the band again. More than 30 years later, she has her revenge: The picture's a fitting cover image for her electrifying new book, Punk Pioneers. It chronicles the period from 1976 to 1980, when X, The Damned, and the Germs' Darby Crash were hitting L.A.'s punk scene. The incredible shots of X's Exene Cervenka (Viggo Mortensen's ex-wife) and The Clash's Joe Strummer are worth the price of admission alone, while the full frontal nudes of The Damned's Captain Sensible at the band's farewell L.A. gig in '77 are unsettling, to say the least. Then again, that was the whole point.

If you want a decent-looking cell phone that doesn't look like it was made for a chick, you're pretty much stuck with something in black or silver. (One notable exception is Nokia's plum N95; too bad it costs about 600 bucks.) Nothing wrong with that—except it can get downright boring. That's why Motorola's just-unveiled Z9 is so welcome—its mahogany-colored exterior might not be for everybody, but at least it's a step in the right direction. That's not something that can be said of the brand's newest Q—it's frickin' lime-green.

Okay, we understand. Still, just a day after the mag named 007 the best-dressed British man (for the second year in a row), they've posted two behind-the-scenes clips from the next Bond movie. We're not complaining: The videos include a solid six minutes of Craig's bespoke Tom Ford suits, the new Bond girl (well chosen), and "space cams on helicopters." (Good to know the off-screen gadgets are as cool as the on-screen ones.) Sadly, no sign of the actor's new co-star, the Aston Martin DBS. Clip one is below.

Looks like we're not the only ones endorsing the Italian kicks: They've apparently become cheesy teen group the Jonas Brothers' footwear of choice. Even worse, when the band's singer, Joe, wore a pink pair to the White House's Easter Egg Roll—not as fun as it sounds, by the way—they received a warm reception from Dubya. "I like them shoes, Joe," he reportedly said. "Gotta get me a pair." Here's hoping he doesn't.

Before developing his line of graphic tees and laser-etched calfskin bags, Salvor Projects founder Ross Menuez worked for everyone from Terence Conran's furniture outfit Habitat to the Nicaraguan Sandinistas—"long story," he says. All of which was training, of a sort, for this fall, when he'll launch his first capsule collection. The monochrome-heavy set includes featherweight down puffers, messenger bags, backpacks, and "head panties" (i.e., balaclavas), all table-printed with his signature geographic patterns. Things get edgier with his series of outsize Italian jersey scarves—he screened snapshots of riot police at the G8 Summit onto them. "We were joking we could do all these political scarves people could unfold at the Olympics," says Menuez. "Problem is you can only do it once." Well, unless people decide to protest London in 2012.
Salvor Projects collection available fall 2008 at Barneys New York, Seven New York, Maxfield, and Project #8, salvorprojects.com

Robert De Niro's long-awaited Greenwich Hotel hosts its first guests tonight, and we're sorry to report that one early rumor isn't true. We had heard that the $750 room rate included free use of the minibar, but according to a rep for the hotel, that's only partially accurate: Snacks and nonalcoholic drinks are gratis, booze is not. In other words, you're going to have to get through a lot of pretzels before you come out ahead.

Also: If you didn't get a room tonight, there might still be hope. The hotel canceled the reservations of the self-described geeks at Hotel Chatter.
The Greenwich Hotel, 377 Greenwich St., NYC, (212) 941-8900, greenwichhotelny.com

Coffee budget pinched by market forces? Good news: This month, Wal-Mart will introduce its own organic, Fair Trade, Rain Forest Alliance-certified, politically unassailable line of java. At about $5.88 for a 10- to 12-ounce bag, the Sam's Choice brand will undercut similar offerings from other outlets by as much as 40 percent. And, hey, it's gotta taste better than Sam's Choice soda.

[Reuters]

While the so-called Wii workout has been keeping gamers improbably fit for awhile now, this is ridiculous: The gym at Le Parker Meridien is renting the Nintendo console to guests for the low, low price of 50 bucks an hour. Want to use it with a personal trainer? That costs $120. (For reference, you can buy the thing for less than $400.) Not to be outdone, Westin is in talks to offer Wii rental at more than 150 properties—price TBD.

[USA Today via Daily Tech]

Today sees the opening of the London West Hollywood Hotel, where the Michelin-starred chef-slash-anger management candidate will oversee all food, from his eponymous restaurant (launching in June) to its room service options. Can't make it to L.A. to take his insults personally? Hell's Kitchen, whose fourth season premieres tonight, is a suitable substitute. It's also an early gift from the WGA gods—it's usually a summer show, but the dearth of programming in the wake of the writers' strike moved the season debut up to April.

And while the stateside version's great, we still prefer Ramsay's UK Kitchen Nightmares reality show for its unvarnished authenticity. As you can see (and hear) at about 2:12 below, there's something about calling a cowering chef "fucking Mr. Chipmunk" that an FCC-friendly bleep just can't match.

In curating a new art show, Dave Eggers stuck to a simple formula: image + text + humor = Lots of Things Like This, opening tomorrow at NYC's Apexart. The author got art-world stars like Philip Guston, musicians such as Leonard Cohen and Silver Jews' David Berman, and a host of others to contribute doodles, sketches, and captions, and the results are as strange as they are funny. We particularly like the absurdity of George Schneeman's giant rooster bearing the legend "Shit on You," Maira Kalman's insightful parsing of the grilled cheese deluxe (pictured), and playwright David Mamet's animal-testing protest, "Tested on Orphans." That last one's funnier than it sounds.
Lots of Things Like This, April 2-May 10, apexart, 291 Church St., NYC, (212) 431-5270, apexart.org

CTIA Wireless 2008 kicked off in Vegas this morning, and while this post-iPhone edition probably won't include any earth-shattering new stuff, it's off to a decent start with Samsung's just-unveiled Instinct. The phone uses an Apple-style virtual keypad (d'oh!), but works with Sprint's speedy EVDO network for full HTML browsing, GPS, and even live TV. We had a hands-on a few weeks back, and were most impressed by the all-new user interface—it's equally at home if you're goofing off or at work (or even goofing off at work). It also includes corporate e-mail compatibility, which is due on the iPhone this June—a rare instance of Apple playing catch-up.

Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones doc, Shine a Light, won't be out until Friday, but you can hear the soundtrack now on Imeem. (Old-fashioned types can grab it in stores today, too.) Recorded during two live shows at New York's relatively tiny Beacon Theater, the double-disc set includes duets with Jack White ("Loving Cup"), Buddy Guy ("Champagne and Reefer"), and the increasingly tolerable Christina Aguilera (a sexy "Live With Me").

If you like your ageless thrills a little grislier, campy cult classic Prom Night 2: Hello Mary Lou drops on DVD today. It features demonic possession and jilted lovers thirsty for blood—which, come to think of it, is just the sort of thing you're apt to find at a Stones show.

The country's hard-earned reputation for restraint takes another blow with this 1.5-acre billboard for BMW (pictured), located in the heart of Moscow. Not only is it colossal, the ad features actual full-size cars—the Z4 M Coupe, M3, M5, and M6 among them. Kind of cool, though we hope they bought insurance.

[Autoblog]

Economy got you down? Good news: You can always live off your ex-wife. At least if you're one of the modern men, profiled today in The Wall Street Journal, who are big enough to take alimony from their often much more successful exes. The paper reports that alimony recipients are now more than 3.6 percent male, a rise from 2.5 percent just a few years ago. Consider toilet salesman turned house-husband Joe Garnick, whose ex-wife (a Merrill Lynch exec) gave him 50 grand a year after their marriage dissolved. He used the money to get a mathematics degree, but like many recent college graduates, found himself unemployed. Last year he returned to selling toilets.

LV's association with stylish travel goes back to the late 1800s, when it made special trunks fitted for the baskets of hot air balloons. That's the starting point (if you will) of Serge Bellu's new book, Louis Vuitton: The Art of the Automobile, which chronicles the brand's graduation to faster-moving modes of transportation. It began hosting concours d'elegance in 1989, with its first classic car rally taking place in 1993. Dubbed the "Vintage Equator Run," it featured 70 vehicles (including two ultrarare Bugattis) setting off from Singapore's legendary Raffles Hotel (home of the Singapore Sling) on a dusty three-day journey to Kuala Lumpur. According to Bellu's account, no hot air balloons were invited.

We didn't include Toyota's Scion Hako concept in our New York Auto Show coverage for a simple (and valid) reason: It's hideous. Most people seem to agree with us—"maybe [they] confused ugly with sporty," Left Lane News wrote—but not the lads at Top Gear. They've posted a witty, passionate (if ultimately unconvincing) defense of the Hako over at their site. Let's just say it's the first time we've seen a car compared to "extreme crochet."

Tomorrow's release of a Beatle-focused two-disc set of The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder has one major highlight: John Lennon's final television interview. Of course, YouTube already has it, and we've embedded it below. (Sorry, Wings fan: We couldn't find the DVD's interview with Denny Laine.)

Fifteen years ago, Snoop was a scrawny, pot-loving thug whose nasal drawl was about to become one of the hallmarks of rap. Since then, he's become a pot-loving father, actor, and Chrysler pitchman, but to us he'll always be the runty OG we loved at the beginning. Tonight on VH1's Storytellers, he trots out the old and the new, and spins his tale as only he can—which is to say, not always logically or clearly, but with style to spare, as you can see in the preview below:

Sure, Istanbul's a gorgeous city, but we'd understand if the Cihangir neighborhood's new Istanbul Suites makes you want to stay inside instead. It's the first hotel by the country's up-and-coming Autoban design firm. (Its deconstructed take on traditional wood furniture is distributed stateside through De La Espada.) The Suites' Ottoman patterns and materials (tile, barely finished wood, classic Marmara marble) are filtered through the designers' modern lens. Laser-cut iron and wood screens are layered and backlit and paired with the brand's furniture, with its sans-serif, italicized forms. And given the views of Topkapi Palace and the mosques of Sultanahmet in the distance, think of it as a new read on a very old opulence.

Yesterday Jean Nouvel was awarded this year's 2008 Pritzker Architecture Prize, which seems like a good excuse to post a gallery of the prolific 62-year-old's work. (Which includes Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater, the Philharmonie de Paris, and YSL's L'Homme fragrance bottle). Fortunately, Gizmodo did the work for us, and you can see it here.

Rather than resent our longtime contributor Mark Ellwood for his continent-hopping lifestyle, we choose to embrace it. (Okay, fine—resent and embrace.) Welcome to an occasional, and opinionated, series of dispatches from the frontlines of luxury journalism, both at home and abroad.

I hate driving in Italy. And it's not just because of my suicidal fellow motorists, who'll sit in the center of every road until another vehicle—say, the one you're driving—barrels down on them before swerving to one side. Oh, no, what makes driving agonizing in Italy is the radio.

The back catalog here is like a Men's Wearhouse suit stashed in the rear of Italy's Prada-crammed cultural closet. (This is the country that gave us Black Box, after all.) The radio plays an endless stream of what sound like novelty records, and the dial is permanently stuck on 1985 FM. Its only impressive touch are the phone-ins. One shock jock last week, in between spinning pappy pop and Toto, asked his teenybopping listeners this prize-winning question: "Which artist invented perspective?" Try asking that on Z100.

There are plenty of homegrown music stars, too, like Jovanotti (pictured), who's guest-editing this month's Italian GQ. The singer broke through almost 20 years ago as a joke rapper—think of him as the love child of Eminem and "Weird Al" Yankovic—then went into the Italian army for his national service at fame's peak. He emerged an impish, bearded style icon—think Johnny Knoxville by way of Jude Law—and buddied up with Bono for the campaign to end third world debt. His music's no better, though.

But my problems on this trip were more than just the radio.

The designer earned his rep dressing up traditional basics with luxurious fabrics—think denim made with pima cotton—and for his first-ever suiting collection, he took a similar approach. The line only comes in minimalist black and gray (each available in a three-piece version), but is augmented by cashmere fabrics and smart detailing, from functional buttonholes on the jacket cuff to interior pockets with vertical (rather than horizontal) openings. (That should make silencing your ringing cell phone during dinner a snap.) Of course, a guy who sells $350 jeans ain't giving you suits on the cheap: They'll set you back between $2,500 and $4,000 when they hit Bergdorf's and Barneys this July.

Few musicians are as scattered, musically and otherwise, as Björk, which makes the Icelandic chanteuse a perfect subject for music blog Stereogum's latest multi-artist tribute album, Enjoyed. (Earlier choices include R.E.M. and Radiohead.) The site assembled a team of indie stalwarts (Xiu Xiu, Grizzly Bear's Ed Droste, the Dirty Projectors) along with up-and-comers like El Guincho to pay homage to her 1995 album Post, and you can download the results for free beginning today. But move fast: If the now-stream-only OK Computer tribute is any indication, the (legal) enjoyment won't last long.

Cuvée René Lalou, from French winemaker G.H. Mumm, is something of a legend among Champagne connoisseurs. Originally launched in 1966, it was named for the brand's then-chairman. He attempted to bottle the house's "true essence" by hand-selecting grapes from 12 nearby grand cru villages, which he then had crushed and vinified—the grapes, not the villages—one batch at a time to preserve their integrity. Now, nearly 25 years after the last version was released, Mumm has come out with Cuvée R. Lalou 1998, made following its inventor's precise instructions. Some production methods have changed—computers help determine the perfect blend—but its notes of nougat, orange, white flowers, and honey remain a fittingly fizzy tribute to a master winemaker. And for 150 bucks, they damn well better.
G.H. Mumm Cuvée R. Lalou 1998, $149.95, sherry-lehmann.com