As vulgarity and coarseness become substitutes for wit and taste, it's important to remember that while the Cold War losing Russians & Chinese are buying up most of Manhattan and all reserves of Krug and Cristal, wine doesn't have to be expensive to be rich.
It's been said the Soviet Union went broke trying to keep up in the Cold War. That might stem from a poor judgement of value. The best car, the best tailor, the best art, the best missile system... like a newly minted Lotto winner, the Commies always associate the best with expensive.
A quick aside. I went to a party on Park Avenue -- Somewhere in the 70's. You know... the private elevator, 15 rooms, flowing halls...striking. The owner, with homes in Beverly Hills and Palm Beach, sold his company for stock to a much larger competitor. Problem was he couldn't sell the stock for five years.
As the stock price tumbled south, he called the new owner. "Look, you gotta let me sell some of this now before it goes even lower." Instead, the owner just offers more stock. This fella tells me that reluctantly he takes more stock.
Laughing hysterically, next to his grand piano, he raises his left arm and points to the ceiling while a $22 plastic Swatch sneaks out from under his shirt cuff, "Just as the five years comes up," he says, "Up the stock goes and it just keeps going up!" I watch his Swatch as he jabs it at his ceiling, "Up! Up! Up!"
A ten million dollar pile on Park and the guy's wearing a plastic Swatch. I know a Manhattan hipster who owns four watches worth $200,000, and he rents...in Little North Korea.
This guy probably serves Flor Rose Prosecco (availability here). At $17, it comes in an even more impressive magnum for around $28. That's a lotta holiday value for the buck. Served chilled, it's refreshing and bubbly soft with a grown up after taste that contrasts against prosecco's typical viridity. If champagne is like sex (and it is), then Flor Rose is a lot like French kissing. Not in China or Russia, but here...in the USA
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