Whilst working on our second post on Herbert Draper we noticed that we have just passed 250,000 visits to Venus Observations since we started this blog in September 2008. The title was inspired by HMS, during one of my visits to Aquae Sulis, who was, in fact, thinking about vinous observations. Nevertheless, we liked the title and so, after a quarter of a million posts and 150 posts we feel that it is only approriate to celebrate with a young lady and some champagne: Venus and vinous together. Who better than our favourite "second wave" supermodel Eva Herzigova, here posing with some Dom Pérignon Rosé.
We have to confess, that whilst we have drunk a fair amount of Dom Pérignon in the past we have only had the rosé once, the 1996 which we drank in a round bath with S in, appropriately, Las Vegas. The problem with Dom Pérignon is that, thanks largely to James Bond, it is more than a little vulgar. Indeed, the rosé was first produced in 1958 because the Shah of Iran requested it at his wedding but Dom Pérignon didn't actually make a rosé at the time.
Only six weeks ago a Russian billionaire bought a methuselah of Dom Pérignon Rosé Gold in the bar of the Westbury Hotel in London for £35,000 (plus £10,625 tip and £4,375 service charge). They only make 35 bottles of this a year and each bottle is coated in gold. If that isn't the definition of vulgar we don't know what is!
Anyway, here is Eva, styled by Karl Lagerfield, presenting the 1998 vintage, in a series of pictures which are far more tasteful than the people who drink it.
Oh, and if you are looking for a reason to drink some Dom Pérignon Rosé why not bid on Herbert Draper's The Sea Maiden which is up for sale at Christies next week. Somewhere between £800,000 and £1.2 million should add it to your collection and give suitable cause for celebration.
