In under a year it has established itself as the Vegas destination for style-sensitive 20- to 40-year-olds

In under a year it has established itself as the Vegas destination for style-sensitive 20- to 40-year-olds. Until now they would have thought of Vegas as the capital of shlock, possibly quoting Hunter Thompson's damning description of the city: "Las Vegas is what the whole hep world would be doing on a Saturday night if the Nazis had won the war."I checked out of the 3,000-room Treasure Island with its skull-shaped door handles and rows of pirate-themed stores and restaurants (Damsels in Dis'Dress, Black Spot Grille). Replicas of Paris and Monte Carlo are also being built, these four alone adding 11,000 rooms to the city's capacity.The most surprising development of all, however, is the opening of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino a few blocks away from the Strip. Here, demand follows supply - the more rooms that are added, the more visitors come. So the Strip will soon see Lake Como brought to the desert with the billion-dollar Bellagio resort, while the New York, New York hotel will recreate the Manhattan skyline. Hence Las Vegas's turreted Excalibur hotel - an Arthurian confection with touches of King Ludwig; Caesar's Palace with its Forum arcade of shops from Versace to Gucci, talking Roman statues and an artificial sky where the sun sets every 10 minutes; and the Mirage - a Polynesian paradise with white tigers prowling behind glass and a 40ft flaming volcano that erupts every quarter of an hour at night time.How can any new hotel beat that? In recent months, entrepreneurs have been focusing hard on the problem Las Vegas seems to have its own unique law of economics. The MGM Grand - whose 5,005 rooms make it the largest in the world - has its own sports stadium and is surrounded by a 33-acre theme park where the star attraction is not Sammy Davis Junior, but the 90ft tall lion who stands guard over the Yellow Brick Road.What is going on in Glitter Gulch? Nevada, which until 10 years ago enjoyed a monopoly on gambling, had to come up with new attractions when the activity was legalised in 22 other states.

Treasure Island (a mock 18th-century pirate village on the edge of an artificial Buccaneer Bay) is another themed hotel which appeals to families rather than to gamblers. The Luxor, which is the boldest and brashest, has a 360ft black glass pyramid with a faux- Egyptian theme; inside you can sail in a barge around a mock river Nile, while two giant talking camels greet visitors in the lobby. Once there were only 24-hour gambling joints, topless bars called Boobs-R-Us, tacky wedding chapels and tired showbiz stars squeezing the last few dollars from their fading careers. Now there are family hotels, theme parks with an educational or environmental theme, the politically correct Cirque du Soleil circus, Michael Crawford musicals and venues designed to appeal to smart young professionals with an unexpected sense of, well, style.The higher evolution of Las Vegas began in 1993, with the launch of three mega-resorts offering an alternative to gambling. On page 58, literary Key WestForget the tarot stalls, crystal vendors and wind chimes of San Francisco: ironically, it's in Las Vegas, traditionally known as Sin City or Lost Wage$, that a New Age has begun. The Hard Rock Hotel is setting a new trend in Glitter Gulch.

Upwardly mobile music-lovers are elbowing out the Liberace lookalikes and shell-suited matrons. Richard Gilbert continues our series on America. Solid wine merchants offering 1995s include: Berry Bros & Rudd of London SW1 (0171 396 9600); Farr Vintners of London SW1 (0171 828 1960); Findlater, Mackie, Todd of London SW19 (0181 543 7528); Justerini & Brooks of London SW1 and Edinburgh (0171 493 8721); Harveys of Bristol (0117 927 5010); Morris & Verdin of London SE1 (0171 357 8866); Tanners of Shrewsbury (01743 232400); and The Wine Society of Stevenage (01438 741177).. If you have access to the Internet, consult Robert Joseph on http:// www.goodwineguide for up-to-date information on who's selling what, prices and pundits' ratings. Grapes picked at this time had gulped up lots of water; later-picked grapes had time after the rain to ripen and concentrate their flavour.Here are my tips for winning 1995 chateaux, arranged in categories according to preference: 1) Mouton, in a class of its own; 2) Latour, Margaux; 3) Canon-la-Gaffeliere, Cheval Blanc, Lafite; 4) Pavie, Leoville-Barton; 5) Pichon-Lalande, Ausone, Ducru-Beaucaillou, Cos d'Estournel, Figeac, Dufort-Viviens, Leoville-Poyferre, Prieure-Lichine; 6) La Dominique, Calon-Segur, Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Les Forts de Latour, Beauregard, Langoa- Barton, Pavillon Rouge, Rauzan-Segla, L'Eglise-Clinet; 7) Talbot, Pape- Clement, La Conseillante.With delivery two years off, it's important to buy from a financially solid wine merchant.

Less good ones tend to be either dilute, or tannic in a tough, dry sort of way. The tough tannin is a result of some vines being water-starved in the 1995 summer drought The dilution came from a spell of September rain. You can't finally judge the wines until they're bottled.So what are they like so far? The best are really deeply coloured, with lovely, ripe fruit and lots of soft tannin. "lt's obviously very tempting for a chateau to select its best samples from its best tanks," says Stephen Browett of fine Bordeaux specialists Farr Vintners in London. "But it would be a scandal if someone produced fantastic samples and then turned out a disappointing wine The wine will taste different anyway, given oak, and time.