Just up the hill from the busy Nassau waterfront sits Graycliff, the first five-star hotel on New Providence Island -- a grand, 250-year-old colonial mansion that was built by the 18th-century pirate John Howard Graysmith, who settled here after giving up his buccaneering. The hotel offers guests luxury and sophistication, off the beaten path.

Its current owner, Enrico Garzaroli, bought Graycliff in 1974 and slowly transformed it into a secluded, tranquil retreat, with 20 rooms in the main house and adjoining cottages. Lush, tropical grounds surround two pools and a full-service spa.

Graycliff also houses two excellent restaurants: the Graycliff Restaurant, a high-end gourmet dining experience (the dress code is strictly enforced), and the Humidor Churrascaria, a Brazilian rodizio palace where meat is king. But the highlights are the hotel's award-winning wine cellar and world-class cigar factory.

If you come for dinner or are a hotel guest, you can request a tour of the wine cellar. The Graycliff boasts one of the largest wine collections in the world; Garzaroli figures its value at around $20 million. An estimated 250,000 bottles, from 400 vintners in 15 countries, line the walls of the damp, dusty cellar. A maze of bottles stacked floor to ceiling weaves in and out of a warren of rooms: Reds, whites, ports, champagnes, cognacs and Armagnacs all have their own place.

The collection contains rare bottles like the 1727 Rudesheimer Apostelwein, the oldest drinkable bottle of wine in the world; a six-liter bottle of Louis Roederer Cristal made especially for the millennium celebration; and a bottle of 1874 Chateau Lafite Rothschild.

If you'd like celebrity treatment and feel the need to dine like Nicolas Cage, Barry Bonds or Michael Jordan do when they come here, you can rent one of the two private dining rooms in the cellar: $1,000 for the room only. The wine steward will assist you in selecting the perfect wines to accompany your meal in this very secluded setting.

After dinner, retire to the Graycliff Cigar Co. adjacent to the Humidor restaurant. Watch in amazement as a room full of cigar masters -- torcedores -- hand-roll cigars in the traditional pre-revolutionary Cuban style. Graycliff's master torcedor, Avelino Lara, was once Fidel Castro's personal roller and now creates the various blends that make up the Graycliff cigar line.

I stood watching Faustino Ramos, who came from Cuba three years ago, as he sat at his rolling table, a big cigar dangling from his mouth, his hands performing a ballet with tobacco leaves. He made it seem effortless, which, I soon discovered, was not at all the case.

As a special treat, the owner invited me to take a seat at the rolling table, where I selected tobacco leaves and began folding them into the palm of my hand. My coach began to cringe. I cut the leaf wrapper and proceeded to hand-roll my own cigar.

With a great deal of advice, a lot of head-shaking and a few interventions, my cigar was finished. It certainly didn't look like the rest of the perfect, stacked cigars on the table, and nobody in their right mind would pay for it, but for me it was a piece of history. I tucked it into my pocket and promised never to try it again. That made the master smile.

Pirate's Den

Bucaneer's Manse is a noted hotel and cigar factory

The Record - Bergen County Record , New Jersey - Travel
Nov. 12, 2006

By Jerry Luciani