Wine Writer: Bermuda’s A Rare Vintage
Quietly luxurious Bermuda is like the last bottle of a rare vintage when it comes to elegance, tranquility and idyllic surroundings, says the “Wall Street Journal’s” wine correspondent.
Scottish journalist William Lyons – an award-winning “Journal” wine columnist – spent December vacationing in Bermuda and this week lauded the island’s understated charms in the financial and business newspaper.
“It is the combination of the gentle, sleepy, subtropical atmosphere, (there are no rental cars here, only mopeds, buses and taxis) and the character of a well-run, distinctly middle-class country club that pervades many of its hotels, which attract so many to its shores,” he said. “Look behind the pastel-colored shops, whitewashed stepped roofs and manicured gardens of the capital city, Hamilton, and there are dozens of offshore companies domiciled on the island that have provided Bermuda with a sophistication quite unlikely in such a romantic hideaway.
“Amid the pink-hued beaches, the hidden coves, coral reefs and the heavy, perfumed scent of freesias and oleander, one also finds the sort of bustling restaurants, wine bars, corporate hotels and golf courses one would expect from an island that boasts the headquarters of companies such as Bacardi Ltd. and insurance brokers Hiscox Ltd.”
Mr. Lyons cited the 500-room Fairmont Southampton and Cambridge Beaches Resort & Spa [pictured above] as representative of the wide range of guest accomodations on the island, saying both the large-scale property and the more intimate West End cottage colony were appealing spots for rest and relaxation.
Last month Mr. Lyons wrote in his regular “Journal” column that connoisseurs could find relative bargains in Bermuda’s restaurants after spotting a bottle of the Château Lafite Rothschild 1999 on the Harbourfront’s wine list which sells for about half of what the vintage fetches at auction in London.
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