growing grapes with wine
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Amazing Heart shape watermelons
A store in Fukuoka is selling heart-shaped watermelons, created by farmer Hiroichi Kimura and his wife.
The fruit is priced at 15,750 yen (US$160) each.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
World’s Most Expensive Bottles of Alcohol
$1,060,000 - Diva Vodka
This bottle of vodka hails from Scotland and its price is the result of how much “bling” you want your bottle to have. The bottle can be encrusted with precious gems: diamonds, rubies, sapphires, etc. Blackwood Distillers makes this triple distilled vodka that is ice-filtered through Nordic birch charcoal and then for some reason is passed through a sand of crushed diamonds and other gems. Absolutely ridiculous, so let’s move on to the next item, which is almost just as ridiculous, but then after that it’s smooth sailing.
$255,000 - Spluch Tequila
The bottle is made of solid platinum and white gold which was unveiled in Mexico City on October 26, 2006. The bottle was purchased by a private collector on July 20, 2006. As a result of the sale, the Tequila Ley .925 company broke the Guinness World Records for the most expensive bottle of liquor sold.
$160,000 - Chateau Lafite 1787
This bottle originally purchased from France by Thomas Jefferson, who was an avid wine collector.
This bottle is a Bordeaux and was sold at an auction in 1985 to Christopher Forbes. Much of the value comes from the fact that Thomas Jefferson once owned this bottle — his initials are etched into it. You can read more about this wine and others (some on this list) here at Forbes.
$90,000 - Chateau d’Yquem 1787
This bottle is a white and was sold recently (2006) to an “American Client”. This wine is from the same year as the most expensive red ever sold (the Chateau Lafite above).
“One must remember that there is considerable nostalgia associated with such a bottle. In 1787 when peasants in Bordeaux were picking these grapes George Washington became the first President of the United States, Marie Antoinette was about to have her head chopped off in the French Revolution, and James Watt was developing the steam engine.” (Antique Wine News)
$75,000 - The Macallan Fine and Rare Collection, 1926, 62 Years OldOriginally listed at $38,000, a bottle was sold to a South Korean businessman in 2005 for $75,000.
The oldest and most sought-after of Macallan’s revolutionary Fine & Rare Collection is now sold out. It is still possible to taste this totally unique Scotch whisky at the Old Homestead Steakhouse in the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, N.J. However, it sells for a nosebleed-inducing $3,300 per dram (1/8th of an ounce/shot). I could create a separate list of better things to do with $3,300.
And I thought I was crazy when I bought two lowballs of Johnnie Walker Blue for $30 each…
$51,000 - Wray and Nephew Jamaican Rum (1940)
The bottle shown to the left, bottled in the 1940s by the Jamaican distillers Wray and Nephew, and containing blends that date back as far as around 1915 has the honor of being what is believed to be the world’s most expensive bottle of rum. The bottle which is being displayed at Europe’s first rum festival, RumFest, is valued at £26,000. The bottle, which is one of four unopened bottles of the stuff in the world, represents the lost tradition of the Wray and Nephew Rum. The popularity of the Mai Tai cocktail drained their rum supplies in the 1930s. In order to keep up with demand, the distillery changed their production methods. The bottle therefore represents the chance to the Mai Tai as it was originally conceived. That is, if anyone ever opens the bottle.
$43,500 - 1775 Sherry from the Massandra collection
This bottle sold at Sotheby’s London (an auction house) in 2001. The Massandra collection is one of the finest in the world and has been around since the mid 19th century. There is nothing special about this particular wine other than its age. It is also pre American revolution.
Snow monkeys in a hot bath
Most monkeys are happy swinging in the trees of tropical jungles but from the look on the face of this one there is nothing like indulging in a hot bath after a long day.
These incredible pictures are of Japanese macaques relaxing in a hot spring in Yamanouchi, central Japan.
Nicknamed the snow monkey, the cheeky-looking animals live a much chillier existence than their tropical cousins and they appear to like nothing better than keeping warm in steaming-hot pools such as this one.
Pink dolphin appears in US lake
The world’s only pink Bottlenose dolphin which was discovered in an inland lake in Louisiana, USA, has become such an attraction that conservationists have warned tourists to leave it alone.
Charter boat captain Erik Rue, 42, photographed the animal, which is actually an albino, when he began studying it after the mammal first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA.
Capt Rue originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side.
He said: “I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter.
“It was absolutely stunningly pink.
“I had never seen anything like it. It’s the same color throughout the whole body and it looks like it just came out of a paint booth.
“The dolphin appears to be healthy and normal other than its coloration, which is quite beautiful and stunningly pink.
“The mammal is entirely pink from tip to tail and has reddish eyes indicating it’s albinism. The skin appears smooth, glossy pink and without flaws.
“I have personally spotted the pink dolphin 40 to 50 times in the time since the original sighting as it has apparently taken up residence with its family in the Calcasieu ship channel.
“As time has passed the young mammal has grown and sometimes ventures away from its mother to feed and play but always remains in the vicinity of the pod.
“Surprisingly, it does not appear to be drastically affected by the environment or sunlight as might be expected considering its condition, although it tends to remain below the surface a little more than the others in the pod.”
Regina Asmutis-Silvia, senior biologist with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said: “I have never seen a dolphin coloured in this way in all my career.
“It is a truly beautiful dolphin but people should be careful, as with any dolphins, to respect it - observe from a distance, limit their time watching, don’t chase or harass it
“While this animal looks pink, it is an albino which you can notice in the pink eyes.
“Albinism is a genetic trait and it unclear as to the type of albinism this animal inherited.”
A close relation of dolphins, the Amazon River Botos, called pink dolphins, live in South America in the Amazon.
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