Kate Moss Channels Marie Antoinette with Dom Pérignon
• Beautiful wines and beautiful women are a pairing as old as wine itself, but only a select few of the world's beauties have inspired stemware designed to evoke their bodies (their bosoms, more specifically). France's Queen Marie Antoinette was the trendsetter in that regard: As the legend goes, the classic Champagne coupe-style glass was crafted to resemble the archduchess' bust. In 2008, designer Karl Lagerfeld teamed up with Dom Pérignon to bring supermodel Claudia Schiffer's breasts to the table. Now, in honor of Kate Moss' 40th birthday, British artist Jane McAdam Freud has created a new Champagne coupe, in collaboration with 34 Restaurant in London's Mayfair district, molded from the model's left breast. (Don't ask why McAdam Freud specifically chose Moss' décolletage à gauche—you might as well start a debate over Bordeaux's riverbanks …) The outer bowl of the coupe de Kate is embellished with an Art Deco-inspired abstract design, and the glasses will make their debut Oct. 8 at a lunch hosted by Moss at 34, where the coupes will be filled with Moët & Chandon's new Dom Pérignon cuvée, P2–1998. "I was excited to participate in this project," said Moss in a press release. "What an honor to be alongside Marie Antoinette—she was a very intriguing and mischievous character."
In the aftermath of the 6.1-magnitude earthquake that struck Napa Valley on Sunday—the Bay Area's largest in 25 years—the California wine industry and others are coming together to help those in need in Napa.
• Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) has donated $10 million to the cause so far, and is inviting others to add to their Napa Valley Community Disaster Relief Fund. "The process of seeking state and federal funding after natural disasters can take some time," Cate Conniff, communications manager of NVV, told Unfiltered. "And we as an organization understood that there were immediate needs for people." NVV's initial $10 million donation comes from an emergency fund, created years ago for such a time as this, drawn from Auction Napa Valley proceeds. They've partnered with the Napa Valley Community Foundation, which has a history of responding quickly to community needs. The purpose of the fund, said Conniff, "is providing financial support for the local community and [getting] businesses up and running as soon as possible." In addition to helping NVV member wineries, the fund will assist all kinds of local businesses, and will provide services like temporary housing, medical care and debris removal for Napa County residents. "People are in need now; they need assistance now," Conniff said. "We wanted to let people know that immediate help was on its way." Contributions may be made through NapaVintners.com.
• Jason and Angelica Moore of Modus Operandi, a Napa-based winemaking outfit that sources fruit from around the valley, are doing their part to assist in the earthquake relief efforts through the fund-raising site GoFundMe/NapaStrong. "This fund will go mostly to taking care of lunches and other conveniences (like child care) for the brave people who are risking their safety to take care of this work," states the page's description, reminding readers that retrieving 500-pound barrels of wine stranded on damaged racks 20 feet in the air is a precarious task. In just a day, the fund's donations have numbered 57, reaching more than $6,800, with a goal of $30,000. "We all put so much love and care into each barrel we produce and to see them broken and wine spilling down the drain is heart-wrenching," wrote Moore. But in #NapaStrong spirit, "Napa is still functional, beautiful, and our vintners need you to come visit us."
• On Wednesday, the Oakland Raiders football team gave $50,000 to three organizations providing relief in Napa, and today Wells Fargo announced it had made a $50,000 donation to the American Red Cross of Napa County and has enabled customers to make donations at more than 1,700 Wells Fargo ATM locations in Central and Northern California from now until Sept. 11. There's even an ALS ice-bucket challenge-inspired #WineBucketChallenge making the rounds on the Internet, raising awareness and urging donations.