Unique luxury hotels, fashionable travel and much more

One of the oldest restaurants in Paris, La Tour d’Argent, is putting 18,000 bottles of vintage wine up for auction.

They include such sought-after tipples as Chateau Lafite Rothschild (1970, 1982 and 1997), and Chateau Cheval Blanc (1928, 1949 and 1966).

La Tour d’Argent, which enjoys an enviable position overlooking Notre Dame cathedral, is a fixture on the Paris dining circuit. It dates back to 1582 and is most famous for its pressed duck.

The bottles for sale were selected from the 450,000 or so that are kept in what is one of the world’s largest and finest cellars. The restaurant says it wants to cut down, vary and modernise its selection.

The auction, set for December 7th and 8th, has captured the imagination of France’s connoisseurs of the grape. A spokesman for the auctioneers said:

“To wine lovers, these cellars are like Mecca, like a cathedral. It’s the holy of holies.”

Some very old spirits will also be sold. When four bottles of 1875 Armagnac Vieux were finally unearthed from the labyrinthine wine cellar, they were found to be covered in a black fungus that looked like matted cat fur.

But they are not the oldest lots in the auction. There are three bottles of a Clos du Griffier cognac from 1788 – the year before the French Revolution. The starting price is 2,500 euros (£2,250/$3,685) a bottle.

It’s thought the whole sale will fetch up to a million euros (£900,000/ $1.47 million).

by Andy Moreton

If you’re planning a visit to France’s romantic capital city, browse through Luxique’s unrivalled selection of luxury Paris hotels.

Wine producers in Burgundy say the current financial crisis has caused a slump in sales to its biggest importer – Britain.

According to the Burgundy wine board, sales fell by 23 per cent in September. The board’s spokesman, Cecile Mathiaud, said: “For three years, the climate in Britain was euphoric. Banks, the business world and high-class restaurants took everything we had without looking at the costs.”

“Now we get the feeling that a page has turned and the UK is no longer an Eldorado. The English are counting their pennies.”

Burgundy relies heavily on its exports, with just over half of its wine shipped abroad. The US has also traditionally been a big customer.

The region is relatively small, producing five times less wine than Bordeaux, but it counts some of the world’s top wines among its 100 appellations, such as Romanee-Conti, Pommard and Chablis.

by Andy Moreton

Through Luxique, you can book one of three delightful luxury hotels in the Burgundy region: the Hotel Le Cep, the Georges Blanc and the Hostellerie De La Tour D’Auxois.