Lifestyle: Share Your Ride

Exotic automobiles are beautiful machines. They are also expensive, challenging to drive, and sometimes troublesome to operate. As a Ferrari-owning executive at Ford Motor Company, Torbin Fuller, now the CEO of Club Sportiva, reasoned that the growth of time sharing for yachts, vacation homes and aircraft meant that there would be a market for automobile time sharing as well. After all, according to Fuller, the typical exotic automobile is driven just fourteen days a year. And four years ago he left Ford to turn his vision into reality in the San Francisco Bay area - one of the world's most beautiful places to drive.


Today, Club Sportiva members share a dozen very interesting vehicles, including a Lotus Elise, Maserati Spyder, two Ferraris and an Aston Martin DB9 Volante. Each is available by the day for a predetermined number of points, which are earned from membership fees that start at $3,500 annually. The entry fee provides twelve days a year access to vehicles that cost less than $125,000. Fees for the most popular membership levels range from $7,500 to $25,000 annually, accommodating more useage and more expensive vehicles.

Those fees buy a high caliber user experience that may be better than exotic car ownership. The club is aimed at people (20% of the members are women) who appreciate cars rather than hard-core car geeks. So, as you might expect, the cars are impeccably maintained and supported with around the clock roadside service. Most of them are replaced every nine months, so the available experiences are always changing. And there are car fleets for travelling members in locations such as Las Vegas and Munich.

The Club Sportiva clubhouse is a garage full of original artworks, with lounges, a small dining area and conference facilities and when the members are not actually driving they enjoy weekly social activities ranging from poker nights and winemaker dinners to road rallies and charitable events. But, first and foremost, the club is about the cars. Torbin and I shared that DB9 while we talked, with the top open and the exhaust rumbling in the sunshine.

Where do I sign?

Lifestyle: Tea in the Afternoon

My wife clipped a list of ten things a man should do to keep his health a while ago and I was happy to see that eight of them were already habits. One of the two suggestions that weren't already part of my life was a recommendation to drink tea each afternoon. So I decided to switch my afternoon espresso to tea.

I started with a mug of Earl Gray taken with a little milk and found that it was giving me a terrific caffeine buzz. And I'm a guy that can drink a double espresso immediately before taking a nap. Moreover, Earl Gray is a black tea, which doesn't claim the same health benefits as green. That called for a little more experimentation, and I settled on the Ginger Peach variety of something called Daily Green Tea from The Republic of Tea.

The background to this is that for years researchers were puzzled by the fact that the French have a lower incidence of heart disease than Americans despite a fattier diet. The answer was found in their red wine consumption. Red wine contains a compound that limits the negative effects of smoking and a fatty diet and green tea is rich in the same compounds, called catechin polyphenols. Powerful anti-oxidants, they appear to inhibit the growth of cancer cells and kill them without harming healthy tissue. They also seem to be effective at lowering cholesterol levels and inhibiting the formation of abnormal blood clots which are a leading cause of heart attacks and stroke.

In 2006, researchers at Yale published a review article that looked at more than 100 studies on the health benefits of green tea. They pointed to what they called an "Asian paradox," which refers to lower rates of heart disease and cancer in Asia despite high rates of smoking and theorized that the 1.2 liters of green tea that is consumed by many Asians each day have an effect similar to the consumption of red wine by the French.

So green tea in the afternoon and red wine in the evening make sense to me. Next we need a study showing the health benefits of champagne for breakfast.

Lifestyle: A Most Useful Conveyance

I'm old enough to remember when it was a pain to negotiate the 300 miles (500 km) between London and Paris. No more. Regular travelers in particular must appreciate the EuroStar schedule inaugurated November 14 that reduces travel time to just a bit over two hours, down from more than three hours when service was inaugurated in 1994. That doesn't include the time passengers save by avoiding the security hassles of air travel, and EuroStar's seats are considerably better too. Even before the new service, the Chunnel train was claiming a 68% share of trips between the two cities.

The faster travel times are the combined result of new high speed track in England and a new London station at St. Pancras (replacing Waterloo, which no longer has EuroStar service).

What the new service will do to the dress of the English and French remains to be seen. A stretch before, it's practical now for a Londoner to take a day off work for a same day journey to buy pointy-toed shoes in Paris. His Parisian colleagues are equally able to buy flamboyant shirts on Jermyn Street. The Business Class-like Leisure Select non-refundable round trip fare is £199 (about $400), and Standard Class is just a bit more than half that.

It all makes me wonder why the United States doesn't do something similar between Washington, New York and Boston. Amtrak's Acela Express service is a start, but cut the transit times in half and there'd be no need for the eight or more commercial flights that are in the air between those cities every hour during the day. That's a lot of kerosene.

Lifestyle: Convertible Country

I've been travelling for the past week and haven't been able to write up any reader questions, so I thought I'd show a photo or two of California's Marin and Sonoma coastal area, some of the best convertible country on earth. The caveat is that the roads are so bad (one survey has them as the worst in California, if not the United States) that it's not high performance car territory. No, it's best when experienced in an open car, like a Morgan Plus 8, at 35 miles per hour.

The weather makes the coast a perfect place for wearing tweed (a guarantee that it can't be found locally). Much of the year, the temperature is cool. A third of the time it's wet, half of the time it's foggy and half the time it's sunny.

Outdoor activities include hiking, golf, birding, whale watching, horseback riding, and driving from one winery to another with the top open. I'm the guy wearing the flat cap with a cigar in his mouth.

Lifestyle: Borgo San Felice

For many years, San Felice has been considered one of the important wine producing estates of Italy's Chianti Classico. It's also home to Borgo San Felice, one of the world's unique resorts. Set in a working hamlet that dates back to the Middle Ages, Borgo San Felice is atop a hill a few minutes from Siena, an hour from Florence and two and a half hours from Rome. A week there was one of the most refreshing travel experiences of my life.


A member of the Relais & Chateaux chain, the hotel has 43 suites and rooms furnished with hand-crafted Tuscan furniture. Guests stay either in the main palazzo on the hamlet's small piazza or in stone houses on the side streets.


The hotel's restaurant, Poggio Rosso, specializes in Tuscan cuisine built around the area's wine and oil. Other facilities include tennis courts, a putting and pitching green, the swimming pool, a chapel, gym and botanical trails. And, of course, Tuscany lies all around.

Room and full board rates range from 310 to 850 euros per day, including VAT, or about $450 to $1,300.

Lifestyle: Easier Air Travel

With all the fuss about air travel with liquids I have returned to checking my luggage even on short flights. It's going to ruin my leather hand luggage but trying to fit my toiletries into a small polyethylene bag in order to get them through security is too much of a pain.

That's what makes the firm of Barclay Crocker of Silver Lake, New Hampshire so interesting. In true entrepreneurial style, Barclay Crocker is helping travelers with its "Easy Travel Kit." Call by 2PM with your credit card handy and $19.95 gets a week's worth of toiletries delivered overnight to any address served by US Express Mail® Overnight Service. So carry-on becomes practical again.

The supplies represent a very respectable value so long as the shoe wipes are disposed of before they get near a pair of leather shoes.

• Old Spice 4-Blade High Endurance Razor (1)


• Gillette Foamy Regular Shaving Cream


• Barclay Crocker Aftershave Balm "Washed Suede"2 oz


• Crest Cavity Protection Toothpaste


• Colgate Toothbrush - Soft


• Scope Mouthwash Original Mint


• Wisdom Floss


• Borotalco Deluxe Italian Bath Bar 100g


• Barclay Crocker 2 in 1 Conditioning Shampoo "Washed Suede" 2 oz


• Old Spice Antiperspirant / Deodorant


• E.A.R Classic Plus Ear Plugs


• Shoe Shine Wipes (2)

Another promising improvement, though it won't help with the liquids in the luggage problem, is the biometric Clear card that promises to fast-track us through airport security for $99.95 a year and a one-time fee of $28. It's a good idea, though so far the system is running in just a few major airports, principally San Francisco and JFK.

Lifestyle: Black Velvet

We owe the recipe for Black Velvet to the passing of Britain's Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, in 1861. It was drunk in place of champagne at Brooks as a sign of mourning. I wasn't mourning when I first had it as an undergraduate years ago but despite that oversight have remained fond of the way the ingredients complement each other.

Making the drink couldn't be easier but the Black Velvet is not a one person drink unless that person is a serious alcoholic. The bartender should have enough thirsty people around to consume bottles of champagne in their entirety so as not to waste any.

To make a black velvet, pour half a glass of Guiness stout down the side of a champagne flute to minimize the head. Then top it up with iced Brut poured slowly over an upside down teaspoon. The spoon helps the champagne to run down the sides of the glass rather than splashing into the stout and mixing with it. The two liquids should remain separate layers, creating a visual affect and a purer pair of tastes.

I first enjoyed the drink at lunch with a bowl of bouillabaisse and I heartily recommend the combination.

Lifestyle: The Rye Manhattan

Rye was the original American whiskey, but largely disappeared after Prohibition. According to one story, all the distillers moved to new lives in the midwest and when Prohibition ended they began distilling corn as it was more available. And that's supposed to be how we got so much bourbon.

At any rate, rye is enjoying another turn in the sun these days, thanks in part to the renewed popularity of the Manhattan, my drink of the season.

Mind you, a man must to take care to avoid fake Manhattans. The limited availability of rye caused some bartenders to begin building a version using bourbon and that's a mistake. Bourbon is too sweet.

The classic recipe is:

2 oz rye
1 oz red vermouth
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Shake well over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an olive (a cherry is also too sweet).

Try one when cocktail hour next rolls around.

Lifestyle: Cocktail Recipes

I was recently pointed to a version of what should eventually become the 21st century's replacement for my well thumbed hard copy bartender's guide. M.esquire.com is Esquire magazine's new site for mobile devices, and it thoughtfully includes 18 of the more important cocktail recipes that frantic hosts can access from their Blackberrys and iPhones.

Today the site is not quite ready to replace the thousand plus recipes in Mittie Hellmich's Ultimate Bar Book. But it'll come in handy should a man hear "I've got fresh mint. Why don't you mix us a couple of Mojitos while I slip into something more comfortable?" at his date's apartment.

Lifestyle: Apple Brandy

It was no coincidence that the Normandy region of Northern France was the birthplace of Taillevent, the first celebrity chef. Normandy's coast is known for its turbot and oysters and its countryside for its dairy products and its apples.

The apple tree first appeared in Normandy while Taillevent was cooking, in the second half of the fourteenth century. It took no more than 200 years before it was fermented into apple brandy, now Autumn's quintessential beverage.

Apple brandy, called Calvados when it's made in Normandy, is made by fermenting apple juice into a dry cider which in turn is distilled into an eau de vie. After at least two years (more is better) of aging in oak casks, it can be served as an aperitif, blended in drinks, enjoyed between meals, drunk with coffee, or served during the very civilized trou normand (the Norman break, a glassful of calvados served between courses at mealtime).

The trou normand is a pleasant custom to adopt in Autumn, particularly if you can find Clear Creek Distillery's Eau de Vie Pomme (rated 96-100 points by Wine Enthusiast Magazine in 2001). Made with a traditional European pot still and barrel aged for eight years, it's an amber-hued brandy that smells of fresh apples but has oak-aged complexity on the palate. Try it ($36.99 at San Francisco's K&L Wine Merchants) following a Norman style dessert omelette of sauteed apples and cream.

Lifestyle: Virgin Atlantic

I was unpleasantly surprised recently to discover that United Airlines charges a $2500 premium for a one way business class fare between London and San Francisco purchased a day before travel (about $6500 instead of the usual $4000). Fortunately for my wallet that day, there were no business class seats available on any airline and I ended up in Virgin Atlantic's Premium Economy where I had a very good experience.

Well, it was good once I got through the dual nightmares of Heathrow's security screening and Virgin's luggage check. Premium Economy costs a couple hundred dollars more than a coach fare, and once aboard I found that fee had rented a seat that was 3" wider, reclined a bit further, and had more legroom. Much more legroom. I was seated at the boarding door, so I actually had more space than the first class passengers.

In fact, the experience felt better than Business Class on that other airline that wanted $6500 for a one way ticket. I had laptop power, free drinks, OK food and an excellent entertainment system with movies and music on demand.

Bottom line: I'll be trying Virgin America for a flight to New York in September.

Lifestyle: Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance

Perhaps the quintessential San Francisco Bay area event begins today. The 2007 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is the world’s premier celebration of the automobile. 175 rare collectible automobiles will be displayed by invitation on the eighteenth fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links this weekend, and 10,000 car lovers will crowd to see them.

Last year's Best of Show winner was this 1931 Daimler Double-Six 50 Corsica Drophead Coupe.


This 1929 Rolls Royce Derby Phaeton is the kind of sight that people in the area will enjoy as about 100 of the 175 participants tour Highway 1 and Seventeen Mile Drive today.



Also on display will be this unrestored 1950 Ferrari 166MM Touring Barchetta that was found hidden under carpets in an Arizona backyard. Number 20 of 25 Ferrari 166MM Barchettas with 2-liter V12 engines ever built, it is the oldest known Ferrari to be left in its unrestored state.

Dress will be California tuxedos for the exhibitors (blazers and khakis), and polos, shorts and flip flops for the gallery.

Photos are Copyright © 2006 and 2007 by Ron Kimball Studios. Used by permission of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. All rights reserved.

Lifestyle: Summer's Tipple

Inexpensive Portuguese imports gave rosé wines a bad name when I was a young man. That's a good thing if the lingering vestige of that reputation holds down demand for summer's best tipple - rosé champagne.

Rosé Champagne is a veritable baby among wines, having only been around since the 1960's. The good stuff is made by the saignée method, where the must, or juice, is left in contact with the skins of Pinot Noir grapes for several hours during the initial fermentation process in order to allow the color to develop. The methode Champenoise is followed thereafter.

I can't take Louis Roederer Cristal or Dom Pérignon Rosé lightly enough to quaff them liberally at $200 and up a bottle. Still expensive but considerably more affordable is Veuve Clicquot Brut Rosé ($50). It's dry and full bodied, with red fruit and citrus flavors and a creamy-yeasty finish.

Also worth considering is the best selling rosé in the world, Laurent-Perrier NV Brut Rosé ($75). It's bright and fresh, with notes of strawberries, raspberries and black cherries.

Finally, for a special occasion, you owe it to yourself to taste Nicolas Feuillatte's 1999 Rosé. A bit less than $200 when you can find it and for at least one fleeting moment you'll think about selling your portfolio to buy up all you can lay your hands on.

Lifestyle: Lagavulin 16

Situated in a small bay near the south coast of the Isle of Islay in the Scottish Hebrides, the Lagavulin distillery stands across the water from the ruins of Dunyvaig Castle, home of the Lords of the Isles (second in the aristocratic hierarchy only to the King of England). The island, which has a better climate than mainland Scotland because it benefits from the Gulf Stream, has been settled for more than ten thousand years. Picts, Gaels and Vikings ruled the western Hebrides and parts of Scotland from here. It's an isolated place, accessible by air from Glasgow or a 17 mile sail from Ireland.

Today Islay has a population of about three thousand souls and the principal occupation is whisky making. Very good whiskey making. My favorite tipple, the Lagavulin 16 single malt scotch garners 99 points from the Beverage Tasting institute, 97 points from Wine Spectator and 95 points from Michael Jackson. It has a rich peat smoke aroma and a full body, complex, with echos of seaweed and smoke.

Single malts are usually consumed neat, with a little water added to open them up. But they can also be taken with food - it's said that in 19th century Scotland, the whiskey bottle was placed on the pantry at breakfast each morning next to the cold meats. Whiskey writer Jackson suggests a dash in the morning oatmeal, followed by kippers, bacon and smoked haddock. Whether that thought appeals or not, you should be able to find the 16 for about $70 a bottle.

Lifestyle: Bandon Dunes

Golf was almost certainly invented on scrub land by the sea, where the wind blows tendrils of fog to mix with the sun. That's why Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is probably the premier destination for serious golfers in North America. It has scrub land, wind and fog in abundance and there's nothing to do but walk about in the weather.

Unless you fly a small plane into the nearby North Bend airport, Bandon is in the middle of nowhere. It's a nine hour drive from San Francisco or 4.5 hours from Portland, Oregon and the last hours of the trip evoke the 19th century - the central Oregon coast has been thinly settled since the coastal schooners stopped trading and the sea air quickly ages the works of man.

Once you arrive, the people are friendly and the accommodations are a step above spartan but acceptable. As is the food. The glory is the golf. Bandon offers three courses, including two of Golf Digest's top 28 in North America (they'd probably rate even higher if they were more accessible). There's a thirty acre practice center that's larger than most golf courses and caddies instead of golf carts.

The wind is always a factor on a links course and the Bandon courses are no exception. You need to learn to play shots along the ground, avoiding the pot bunkers and the distracting views of the surf pounding on the beaches below the cliffs on a third of the holes.

A round of golf is $195 in season, perhaps the best golf value West of Ballybunion.

Lifestyle: Clothes Storage

Closet space is a perpetual challenge if you care about clothes. I've often re-told the story of the closet of John Seabrook, whose hundreds of jackets hung on a conveyor system that ran from his bedroom through the ceiling and into an attic filled with his clothes.

Much as I might want to emulate Seabrook, I lack an attic. Instead, I fall back upon upon closet design professionals who specialize in optimizing the available space for clothes storage. The enviable closet (not mine) at the left was designed by Crowne Closets of Las Vegas, Nevada. A center island like the one pictured provides a convenient place to press a shirt or pack for travel.

Effective closet systems can significantly increase available storage space. A conventional 48 square foot walk-in closet with a shelf and a hanger bar provides, on average, 20 linear feet of hangar space. A closet system will usually double hanging space to 40 linear feet, and double the available shelf space as well.

According to Cher Ten Hoeve of Seattle's Closets Etc., closet design has its own made to measure vs. bespoke controversy. She reports that many closet companies save money but waste space by specifying shelves and drawers cut in standard widths (12", 24", 30", and 36").

"For example, men's shoes generally run 9"-10" wide per pair so a 24" shelf is a poor use of space," says Ten Hoeve. "By adding 3" of width per shelf and making it 27" wide, I can fit three pair of shoes side by side. It costs a little more but you get much more capacity, and that's what custom closets are all about," she said.

Open shelves are not the best solution for other kinds of storage either. Sized cubbyholes keep stacks of shirts and sweaters from wrinkling when the garment above or below them is removed. Glass doors reduce dust, and that is important for infrequently worn items.

When evaluating partners to customize a clothes storage space, look for the representative that inventories what you own and plan to acquire, and then proposes a solution that fits as well as a bespoke suit.

Lifestyle: Valentine's Day

Cupid asked us to remind you that Valentine's Day falls on February 14 this year. That means that the love of your life expects to be surprised with your good taste in a symbol of your affections. Once again, we're here to help.

If you have a friend that shares, consider artisanal chocolates from Burdick Chocolate of New Hampshire (the Cambridge Mass. store is a must visit when you're in the area). Their half pound Wood Heart Set is $44 and you'll be thought of fondly for at least as long as it takes to finish the box.

Flowers keep you in mind somewhat longer. 1-800-Flowers stands ready to deliver flowers to two dozen countries around the world. Four dozen red roses are $210 and should make a special someone happy for most of a week.

My personal favorite is fragrance because your purchase lasts for months and rewards you every time you get close. Escentual will dispatch 50 ml of one of the world's great scents, Caron's Tabac Blond, for about $300. One reviewer said it makes her think of the sort of partner "who can be showing horses in the morning, race cars in the afternoon, and host a ball in the evening for heads of state." Anyone you know?

Finally, let's say you've found the one for a lifetime and it's time to close the deal. Blue Nile will mount a two carat emerald cut diamond in a solitaire setting for about $30,000 and we covered what to wear at your wedding last week.

Lifestyle: Cuban Cigars

I recently learned that people I thought of as perfectly proper American citizens are guilty of serious crimes. They've been smoking Cuban cigars outside the United States.

I knew that Cuban cigars are contraband. To buy or sell them in the United States is a felony under the Trading With the Enemy Act and has been since JFK outlawed them in 1963 (according to a biographer, shortly after instructing his staff to fill his humidor). But I know more than one cigar smoker who bought a box of Romeo Y Julieta Churchills immediately after landing somewhere outside of U.S. jurisdiction and consumed them before returning to the U.S. Well, it turns out that in September 2004, the U.S. Treasury changed its regulations to forbid consumption (smoking) or purchase of Cuban cigars by U.S. citizens anywhere in the world.

Good intentions aside, I don't know that it's good policy to pass unenforceable laws. Like Prohibition in the 1930's, the Cuban cigar ban is apparently ignored by more than a few citizens already. A Google search for Cuban cigars turns up a number of suppliers whose business appears to be based principally on their offer to ship genuine Havanas (with the seal of Cuba's authorized importer into Canada still intact) and guarantee their arrival at the purchaser's address in the United States.

For example, Canadian Cigar Company asserts that "In the rare event a parcel is redirected by any agency, regardless of method of shipping, simply send us the letter received in their place and we will replace the order promptly, at no charge." Vancouver Cigar Company has a similar policy.

Fortunately, Cuba is no longer the only source for good cigars. Of the 70 cigars rated 90 or better in the pages of Cigar Aficionado last year, 36 were from places like Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Quality smoke hasn't been so legal since 1962.

Now please excuse me while I light up a La Aurora Preferidos Robusto from the Dominican Republic.

Lifestyle: The Bounty Hunter

Only a few times in life have I encountered a supplier of any kind that consistently surpassed my expectations. Napa Valley's The Bounty Hunter is one such. Founded ten years ago by Mark Pope, The Bounty Hunter offers wines from around the world with an emphasis, as you'd expect, on bottlings from California. In my experience, every bottle on offer is worth tasting.

With wine shipping laws liberalized in many parts of the United States since the Supreme Court ruling of 2005, there's no longer any need to go to a local merchant and attempt to guess which of the hundreds of unfamiliar wines may be worth a try. Bounty Hunter sells only the best. Recent offerings include "single best barrel" Cabernet Sauvignon from Girard and La Jota (from the Premiere Napa Valley auction) as well as staples like the '05 Conundrum from Caymus.

Like other wine purveyors, Bounty Hunter has several Wine Clubs. Their versions feature small production and boutique wines that are not available to the general public.

I like that the company stands behind every bottle. If you purchase a wine that you don’t like, they take it back. You pay only the shipping costs.