Man about town Ricardo Simich brings you Society Insider. This week, All Black Beauden Barrett has launched a fine wine import business; multi-billionaire Nick Mowbray celebrates his 40th birthday in style; actor Thomasin McKenzie appears on the red carpet and at fashion shows with her boyfriend; and Kiwi
Society Insider: All Black Beauden Barrett launches exclusive wine club; billionaire Nick Mowbray’s 40th birthday party; Thomasin McKenzie debuts boyfriend
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Sydney-based Kiwi fashion designer Emma Lerche had her debut NZ show; Nick Mowbray celebrated his 40th birthday in Queenstown; Beauden Barrett is branching out into fine wine; Thomasin McKenzie has been on a fashionable European adventure. Photo / Supplied, Getty Images, Herald composite
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Last September, Barrett obtained a liquor licence which allows Beau Jour to sell directly in New Zealand.
For the moment, the business is entirely offline and by word of mouth. Those interested can register to be part of an exclusive wine mailing list that introduces customers to special and rare French wines.
Barrett declined to comment when approached by Society Insider. He would only say that he hoped to host a couple of events during The Blues’ bye-week at the end of this month.
The events will be hosted by Barrett and Auzely at the Wine Room on Auckland’s College Hill, which houses a wine bar, private rooms, a members’ club, a subterranean cellar, a cigar deck, and retail store.
The Wine Room’s founder David Nash and executive chef/part-owner, Ryan Moore, are said to be fans of Barrett’s business concept. As is former All Black Sir John Kirwan, who is also in the wine-importation business, bringing in Italian wines under the brand JK14 Wines.
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A local Rich Lister and noted wine connoisseur who is part of Beau Jour’s exclusive wine list told Society Insider that Barrett and Auzely know their stuff. He said he is impressed with their offerings so far.
Barrett has been known to enjoy a glass of good French wine with Rich Lister friends including property developer Kurt Gibbons and Graeme Hart’s son Harry.
Beau Jour taps into Barrett’s passion for fine wine, which may have begun in 2012 thanks to a gruelling training session for his then-club the Hurricanes. The team’s sponsor at the time was Palliser Estate, and Barrett was tasked with shovelling around 1.5 tonnes of pinot noir grape skins through a manhole on the side of a vat.
He has told Beau Jour customers that while he is still dedicated to his rugby career, establishing the business allows him to learn and prepare himself for future professional endeavours.
Barrett says his love for French wine grew in 2023, when he was in France to play in the 2023 Rugby World Cup tournament. It was there, he says, he had the privilege of meeting incredible individuals in the viticultural field.
During the All Blacks’ RWC bye week, where the team set up camp in Bordeaux, Barrett helped Auzely to set up a tour of the local wine region for members of the team, including his brother Jordie, Damian McKenzie and Will Jordan. The ABs visited Chateau Margaux, a renowned wine estate that features a 19th-century, neo-palladian-style villa on site.
New Zealand supergroup Six60, who were also in France for the Cup, made good use of Auzely’s expertise, visiting Chateau Fleur de Lisse, one of the oldest wineries in the Bordeaux region.
Auzely is based in Libourne, in the southwest of France, a day trip from Bordeaux.
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He has lived in the region for more than 20 years, where he became passionate about wine. After working for French sportswear brand Le Coq Sportif, he decided to make wine his fulltime career.
For more than a decade, Auzely has become famous for his private wine sales website 20H33, which specialises in the great wines of Bordeaux. It also offers subscription boxes and a wine sourcing service.
In Bordeaux, Auzely has made a concerted effort to get to know everyone who works in the world of wine, from winegrowers, agronomists and oenologists, to people who work in the vineyards and cellars.
Through his contacts, Auzely prides himself on finding the right wines at the right price.
In their brand marketing, Barrett and Auzely say Beau Jour aims to “bring a taste of France” to customers, whether they are “celebrating a match or just enjoying the finer things in life”.
Prices range from $35 for a bottle of Chateau Bonneau 2020 merlot cabernet franc blend, up to $1500 for a Chateau Lafite-Rothschild 2014 cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, petit verdot blend. Some of Beau Jour’s products are listed as “price available on request”, such as a bottle of Pétrus 2009 merlot, which has an estimated value of more than $10,000.
How does a billionaire celebrate his 40th birthday?
Multi-billionaire Nick Mowbray, one of New Zealand’s richest men, turned 40 on Saturday with a celebration in Queenstown.
He had been in the lakeside tourist hotspot for the New Zealand Open at Millbrook the previous weekend. After the golfing, he and his fiancee, Monday Haircare founder Jaimee Lupton, entertained visiting friends and family in and around Queenstown, including a small welcome party at La Rumbla in Arrowtown. It was the first of a couple of upcoming big family birthday celebrations – daughter Noa turns 1 this month.
The couple are known for their lavish parties. They throw annual themed parties with hundreds of guests at their $40 million Coatesville mansion and in October had a Halloween bash at their $24m Marine Parade house in Herne Bay, which is due for demolition.
For Mowbray’s 40th, Lupton chose to invite a hundred or so friends to a party at Ayrburn’s casual, bistro-style eatery, the Woolshed.
Decorators dressed the outside of the schist building’s entrance with billowing silk curtains, and outdoor tables were set up next to the outdoor fireplace, with wine, Champagne, and the first of the season’s bluff oysters.
Inside, masses of blue hydrangeas were the room’s centrepiece, adjacent to a massive charcuterie table and country flowers accenting the timber and schist features of the room.
Lupton’s sister Morgan was in attendance with her fiance, Blackcomb Property Group’s Tim McGoldrick. Tim’s sister, broadcaster Laura, was also on the guest list, with her husband, former Black Cap Martin Guptill, and his former teammate Ross Taylor, who was celebrating his 41st birthday on the same day.
Other sporting guests included All Black Beauden Barrett with wife, leading influencer Hannah, and America’s Cup champion Peter Burling with wife Lucinda.
Visiting from Sydney was Mowbray and Lupton’s close friend, Bondi Rescue’s Harrison Reid. Other close friends in attendance were broadcaster Dominic Bowden and fiancee, wellness coach and model Esther Cronin and Forsyth Barr’s Cameron Robertson and wife Amy.
Rich List guests included Gretchen and Duncan Hawkesby, and Centuria NZ chief executive Mark Francis and wife, Dominique, owner of Redroom Wellness.
Bowden was the evening’s MC, with entertaining speeches from Tim McGoldrick and Lupton, followed by Mowbray himself. He also was presented with a massive birthday cake covered in raspberries and sparklers.
The DJ booth was mostly manned by Sydney DJ Jackson Hunter with Cam Robertson also hitting the decks and guests dancing late into the night.
Thomasin McKenzie hits the red carpet with Kiwi boyfriend
Talented New Zealand actor Thomasin McKenzie has had a handsome date by her side at recent red-carpet events. And it seems her new beau is also responsible for her dramatic new look.
McKenzie, 24, has been dating fellow Wellingtonian, stills photographer Benjamin Sarikaya, for eight months, after meeting him in London last year.
McKenzie has a new pixie haircut, which Society Insider is told was cut by Sarikaya.
Presenting an award with her Joy co-star James Norton at the February Baftas, McKenzie looked sensational in a black lace gown by Kiwi designer Emilia Wickstead. Wickstead is the designer in charge of Air New Zealand’s new cabin crew uniforms, set to debut this year.
A week later, Sarikaya and McKenzie attended London Fashion Week, including Wickstead’s runway shows, as well as that of Irish designer Simone Rocha.
McKenzie’s mother, acting icon Dame Miranda Harcourt, told Society Insider that the couple followed London Fashion Week with the “whirl” of Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks.
Sarikaya started his OE to Europe at the beginning of 2023 and last year worked in London as a marketing co-ordinator for Onyx Capital Group and developed his photographic work.
McKenzie, who starred in Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit at the age of 19, made London her base in 2023. Since then she has been busy filming a number of projects, including Netflix’s Joy alongside Norton and Bill Nighy.
McKenzie and Sarikaya have started an Instagram page called Gate is Good, to share their travels together.
Trips have included fun times in London and visits to Greece, Sweden, and Hungary, where McKenzie was filming the historical musical drama Ann Lee with Hollywood star Amanda Seyfried. Most recently Gate is Good has featured beautiful stills and videos of McKenzie and Milan Fashion Week.
After McKenzie finished filming period parody film Fackham Hall in Liverpool, she and Sarikaya came home to Wellington for the summer break and travelled to Golden Bay with her family.
This month’s new NZ online magazine It’s Interval, featured Sarikaya’s photography of hiking the Heaphy Track in Kahurangi National Park, with Thomasin, her sister and fellow actor Davida, and her brother, award-winning journalist, Pete.
While home in New Zealand, Thomasin and Davida filmed director Joshua Prendeville’s short film Our Party in Auckland, where the real-life sisters play sisters on screen.
This week Harcourt and Davida, met up with Thomasin, (whose head is now shaved) and Sarikaya in New York, where they attended a workshop for students at NYU Tisch Film School.
McKenzie is set to star in several upcoming productions, including Victorian Psycho, a psychological horror; Self-Portrait with Big Little Lies actor Zoë Kravitz; and Grendel with Jeff Bridges and Bryan Cranston.
Kiwi fashion designer shows at home in Auckland for the first time
A Kiwi fashion designer with a royal connection had her first show in Auckland recently, after starting her business seven years ago.
Sydney-based designer Emma Lerche returned home to Herne Bay last week to show designs from her brand Luxe de Valentina, with the event held at a friend’s multi-million dollar mansion.
Lerche started her label in 2018 at the dining table at her stylish Watsons Bay home in Sydney, which looks out over the city’s famous harbour.
“My children were 9 and 10 at the time and I haven’t looked back,” Lerche tells Society Insider.
LdV has a thriving online presence and a long list of niche global stockists, as well as commissions for capsule collections from big department store brands like David Jones and Harvey Nichols.
British royal Zara Tindall is a fan of the brand, as is designer India Hicks, the godchild of the late Princess Diana. Hicks stocks LdV at her Bahamas store Sugar Mill.
In Australia, customers include actors Asher Keddie and Erika Heynatz, supermodel Elle Macpherson, fellow model Clementine McVeigh as well as editorial director of Vogue Australia Edwina McCann and renowned fashion journalist Paula Joye.
Lerche describes LdV as being born out of a deep longing to live in a world of romantic, elegant fashion, and love of the Italian Riviera.
Her Auckland show was the latest in a long list of LdV trunk shows, where guests are invited to private homes to buy directly while enjoying hosting and hospitality.
The well-connected Lerche tells Society Insider her friends have put on VIP trunk shows for her brand in Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Paris, and Milan. That direct approach has been one of the keys to her success.
Olga Diez Roman, owner of cafe Baguette and Co, hosted Lerche and LdV poolside at the luxurious Herne Bay mansion she shares with her husband, property developer Marc Lindale.
Guests who shopped up a storm included uber-wealthy women Julie Leitch, Frankie Sargent and Lady Sarah Fay, as well as Karyn Arkelle, the founder of communication agency Grace; Calibre Partners Natalie Burrett, and interior designers Charlotte Sumich and Simone Crowe. Stylist Louise Pilkington and fashion stylists Michiko Hylands and Lulu Wilcox were also in attendance.
Lerche’s love of – and later foray into – fashion is born from a life and career in and around the industry.
In the early ‘90s, Lerche was a girl about town in Parnell and Ponsonby while studying a Bachelor of Communications at the University of Auckland. A stint in London followed, working in corporate comms for markets and acquisitions and private wealth clients.
Lerche says she pursued her love of fashion by working behind the scenes at runway shows as a dresser, before leaving the banking world for publicity contract roles for brands like Vivienne Westwood and Donna Karan.
She then had a stint in Italy working as a fashion and travel writer, before returning to Auckland and working for Paula Ryan at Simply You.
She resumed her comms career in Sydney, working for an array of brands like Australia Fashion Week, Louis Vuitton and Mercedes Benz. Outside of work, she married Englishman Steven Lerche and had two children, Charlotte and William.
“In the 2000s, the budgets were huge, the red carpets long and I often ended up helping out the stylists with last-minute wardrobe disasters,” she says.
Lerche became good friends with the “it” girls of fashion, including designers Nicky and Simone Zimmermann, Sass and Bide founders Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton and Ksubi Creative director Pip Edwards.
“I adored watching my friends pursue their creative dreams as they built their globally recognised brands, so with fierce determination, I started my own.”
Lerche is thrilled to have reconnected with New Zealand. So far, she has her label stocked at Sisters in Tauranga and Chapman in Dunedin, and promises to be back for more trunk shows.
“Over the next seven years I want to build a brand that is aspirational and recognised, but not seen on every second woman on the street,” she says.
“Luxe de Valentina is about quiet luxury.”
A good week for… Rebecca Wright and Andrew Gourdie
Former Newshub TV broadcasters Rebecca Wright and Andrew Gourdie have made their relationship Instagram official.
The couple were at Barfoot and Thompson Champions Day, the richest annual sporting event in the country at Ellerslie Racecourse.
In December, Society Insider revealed the pair had been dating for some months, and in January, they posed for us at the Karaka Millions at Ellerslie, albeit from side on.
Their social media debut together is straight down the camera, with loved-up smiles.
“Favourite looks a class above,” wrote Gourdie.
“She’s my pick,” he added.
Wright added another variation of their photo to her Instagram story, as well as one with her in-between her former Newshub colleagues Lloyd Burr and Ollie Ritchie.
With Christchurch-raised Gourdie, now head of communications and content for New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing, he and Wright have become a fixture around the track over the summer.
Party people of the week
Veuve Clicquot at Urban Polo
The Lexus Urban Polo was the place to be on Saturday, solidifying itself as the sparkling finale of the summer events season at the Auckland Domain.
More than just a sporting event, the day attracted a glittering guest list of chic attendees including celebrities and the elite from both the fashion and sporting worlds.
Among the hottest tickets at the event was the Veuve Clicquot Solaire VIP Terrace, which was the most premium spot to be to watch the day’s events on the field, soak up the sun-kissed atmosphere, and see all of fashion on display.
Clicquot and canapes flowed throughout the day, as DJs Clint Roberts and Dick Johnson kept the mood high for eventgoers.
Attendees included Black Cap Lockie Ferguson, Mission Bay’s in-demand dentist Miriam Gollop, alongside media personalities Amber Peebles and Brooke Howard-Smith, and social influencers Zeenat Wilkinson and Sophie Chung.
Veuve Clicquot also hosted a private marquee for guests including the co-owner and founder of Mudbrick Vineyard, Nick Jones, with his son Oscar; fashion designer Karen Walker, Sophie Hallwright from the Curve, and PR maven Gemma Ross.
An Ode to Women for the Arts luncheon
Last Friday, in honour of International Women’s Day, Non Solo Pizza in Parnell had the perfect setting for a celebratory luncheon honouring women and their achievements.
An Ode to Women for the Arts, which supported Breast Cancer Foundation New Zealand, was hosted by Orsini Fine Jewellery owner Sarah Hutchings and Rich Lister Jillian Friedlander.
Well-known NZ painters, New York-based Natasha Wright, Katherine Throne, Clare Barker and Nicola Bennett presented their artworks with a series of questions and answers led by MC, TVNZ’s Renee Wright.
Jacqueline and Alex Corolli, suppliers to Orsini of their Italian Jewellery brand Al Coro, showcased their exquisite collections, which they brought down from Europe especially for the event.
Once upon a time in Scotland
Glenmorangie held an intimate and exclusive event at the Wine Room in Freemans Bay to launch their biggest campaign yet in New Zealand.
The evening launched legendary cinematic icon, Harrison Ford, as the face of Glenmorangie single malt Scotch whisky. Ford’s campaign for Glenmorangie, titled Once Upon a Time in Scotland, was filmed in the picturesque north-east Highlands of Scotland where he learns the nuances of Scottish pronunciation and kilt etiquette to bonding with locals over a dram of single malt.
Glenmorangie brand ambassador Dawn Psereckis flew in from Australia to host the evening with guests including ed&i body’s Edna Swart and society chef Hercules Noble who attended with the Cosmetic Clinic brand manager, Vicky Lourens. Also in attendance were fashion lifestyle creative Aki Curtis and her husband creative idealist, Andrew, and general manager of the Nightcar, Andre Berghaus.
Ricardo Simich has been with the Herald since 2008 where he contributed to The Business Insider. In 2012 he took over Spy at the Herald on Sunday, which has since evolved into Society Insider. The weekly column gives a glimpse into the worlds of the rich and famous.
