Look closely. The designer of this Sancerre label left the place-holding Lorem Ipsum text on the label. Proofreader delight.

via link

Source: Wikipedia

Two bottles of the world’s oldest champagne, which spent about 170 years at the bottom of the ocean, sold for 54,000 euros ($73,700) at an auction in Finland on Friday.

The second lot, containing vintage Veuve, fetched 30,000 euros, which the auction house – New York-based wine specialist Acker Merrall & Condit – said was the most paid for a bottle.

Veuve Cliquot are quoted in the article as saying:

“We have worked closely with the government of Aaland since the discovery of the shipwreck to help salvage and protect the precious wines, which we know now were tasted by Madame Clicquot herself.”

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/top-drop/worlds-oldest-bubbly-sells-for-73k-20110603-1fjnf.html#ixzz1OTupLs3Z

“The cork material makes an ideal soft handle and tells the story of previous evenings.”

Such a good idea. What a great way to store that special cork or remember what got opened the night before.

Buy one here.

The Cloudy Bay Pinot Journal is online at Youtube. The background music is classic corporate vid (which I could do without) but the content is worth watching. It’s always interesting to know what the viticulturalist thinks of the vintage and 2011 sounds like a good one. View it here.

For the wine drinking builder, DIY-er or gadget lover, let me present the Bosch IXO Vino Cordless Lithium-Ion Screwdriver with Corkscrew Attachment <link>.

“The IXO VINO with exclusive corkscrew attachment – the worlds best selling powertool is now more than just a cordless screwdriver. This small and handy tool can take on a wide range of everyday screwdriving tasks around the home, and can now remove corks.”

Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor would have loved this.

And, according to one reviewer, “it actually works”.

“With the creation of an exclusive collection of three bottles by the Design Laboratory at Central Saint Martin’s School of Art & Design, Dom Pérignon pays tribute to Andy Warhol, creative genius and one of the most illustrious artists of the 20th century.”

And you can watch a nice little vid here.

h/t creative greed

Two Panadol, a big Mac and a can of Coke is how I treat a hangover. GOOD magazine presents 10 “Healthy” ways to help a hangover including:

• Miso soup and eggs. Popular in Japan.
• Kombucha tea. No idea. But it contains alcohol, so sounds promising; and
• Sex.

Not strictly about wine, I know. The full list is here <link>.

Update: The Hungover Cookbook

Only $8 on Amazon, the book (read the cover carefully) classifies six different types of hangovers with recipes for each, mind games and quizzes to see if you’re actually hungover or just still drunk.

Not only is this vineyard close to my home town of Christchurch in New Zealand, their website is wonderfully typographic. <link>

Now all I need to do is get a taste of the wine. Raymond Chan thinks the Chardonnay is pretty good. Here’s his summary.

The Naish family have brought Black Estate to the fore of Waipara wine producers. The output is with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from 4 ha of vines of each variety from the home vineyard, and contracted Riesling fruit from nearby. The Chardonnay is from 15 y.o. Mendoza clone and is deemed to be something special. I concur..

And in full <link>

As a further aside, some mighty fine Canterbury rugby players also call Omihi home.

Here’s a great use for those old corks. Mind you most of the wines I buy seem to have screw caps. Not quite the same.

<link>

“A very special writing fluid are ink made of wine. Imagine putting your thoughts and wishes on paper with one of your favorite wines. Something very special for all wine enthusiasts. This exclusive handmade ink is made of wine and is produced on the basis of the latest ink technologies and according to current regulations of the European Union.”

I prefer to drink my favourite wines rather than writing letters with them, (not that I’ve written a letter with a fountain pen recently). Or maybe I just need more romance in my life.

Only $16.50 here.