My wonderful sister-in-law Julia is of Chinese descent and is gaga about the number 8. She lives on the 8th floor, likes 8 in her phone numbers and was more than a little disappointed that her baby was not born on the 8th…but would never say it. Her passion sparked my curiosity. So, what is the deal with 8? “Eight” in Chinese sounds like to “generate wealth”, so it is easy to say why commercially-minded people would quickly associate this number with good fortune. Japan also celebrates the lucky number 8 with similar passion and revere.
Some fun ways the number eight has been celebrated are at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They started the games on 8/8/08 at 8:08 local time. The tallest building in Malaysia is 88 stories. All the airlines compete to pepper their flight numbers to China 8’s (i.e. AC88, KL888, UA888). Hopefully, these travelers have had better luck with their on-time arrival on United than I have.
The number four, contrastingly, is a Chinese pariah. Building owners in Chinese communities are famous for skipping floors with 4s and expanding the number of floors with 8 to increase commercial appeal.
So, what’s a gift merchant to do with all this research?
The answer was clear: let’s create an over-the-top gift to celebrate the number 8, of course!
We are delighted to have just launched our “Lucky 8 Sommelier’s Fine Wine Crate” selling for $1,288.88 . It is 2 four-bottle crates, each emblazoned with the Chinese character for 8 and the words, “Eight Bottles for Good Luck and Prosperity”. You can add your own personal message to the recipient. The eight bottles of wine include Dom Pérignon, Silver Oak, Caymus Special Select and Moët & Chandon, along with four other bottles I personally choose from our Fine Wine Collection.
These are perfect executive gifts, large real estate transaction gifts or an extravagantly generous wedding gift for oenophiles. They’ll also be appropriate to celebrate whenever we resolve our tariff dispute with China!
Regardless of cultural heritage, any recipient will be a very lucky person who knows you want to send a big message. We also have three-bottle and four-bottle fine wine crates that will rock people’s world with celebratory wine quotes if the whole “Lucky 8” thing isn’t for you.
In vino veritas.
Cheers,
Martin
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