Setting himself up for his post-rugby career, Barrett\u2019s sideline business sees him partner with the respected French wine connoisseur Jean-Benoit Auzely.<\/p>\n
Beauden Barrett launched a new business this year, Beau Jour, a premium wine membership club.<\/p>\n
Barrett obtained a liquor licence last year, which allows Beau Jour to sell directly in New Zealand. The business functions like a VIP club, operating on an exclusive wine mailing list that introduces customers to special and rare French wines.<\/p>\n
Its wine list ranges from $35 bottles of Chateau Bonneau 2020 Merlot Cabernet Franc blend, right through to Petrus 2009 Merlot, which has an estimated value of more than $10,000 per bottle.<\/p>\n
Barrett has been known for years for his appreciation of a fine wine, but said his true love for French wine grew in 2023 when he was in France to play in the Rugby World Cup. There he had the privilege of meeting incredible individuals in the viticultural field throughout the country.<\/p>\n
Beau Jour has had several tasting events this year in the private dining room at College Hill\u2019s The Wine Room by David Nash<\/a>. The venue\u2019s subterranean private cellar is said to house more than a few bottles of wine from wealthy Beau Jour clients.<\/p>\n Beau Jour selections by Barrett have also been a hot ticket this year for rich-list dinner parties and larger events.<\/p>\n After the All Blacks\u2019 Northern Tour last month, Barrett\u2019s wife, Hannah, who is pregnant with their third child, joined him in Europe.<\/p>\n Luxury Swiss watch maker TUDOR flew the Barretts and several other All Black ambassadors by private jet to Geneva for some fun and brand work.<\/p>\n The Barretts then travelled to France and visited the Champagne region\u2019s various vineyards, including the world\u2019s largest Champagne house, Moet & Chandon.<\/p>\n They ended their trip in Paris, staying at the luxurious Bvlgari Hotel in the city\u2019s golden triangle.<\/p>\n Hottest headline-making couples<\/p>\n We revealed in July that Kiwi media man and former All Black, Marc Ellis and his American partner, Mibella Villafana had transformed a basement space in Auckland\u2019s Grey Lynn into a new wellness centre<\/a>.<\/p>\n After a European holiday in August, they opened Cora Studio, where they have been sharing their wellness wisdom to full classes ever since.<\/p>\n The couple has been dating since early last year and live together in Grey Lynn with their blended families. Villafana has two children, and Ellis has four.<\/p>\n It hasn\u2019t been such a good year for another former All Black. Last month, we revealed that a couple we had followed for a decade, former All Black Aaron Smith and his wife Teagan Voykovich<\/a>, had separated after four years of marriage.<\/p>\n Smith is now playing rugby in Japan with Toyota Verblitz, and gym-loving Voykovich is embracing life, fitness and most of all being a mother to their two boys at their rural lifestyle property just out of Hamilton.<\/p>\n Biggest buzz<\/p>\n Helicopters have been making headlines this year, with Sir John Key buying a new one, Anna Mowbray and Ali Williams getting permission to land one on their front lawn, and luxury golf clubs Tara Iti and Te Arai facing restricted landings at their courses.<\/p>\n Former Prime Minister Key upgraded to an Airbus H130 helicopter<\/a> in February. New H130s are reported to cost $6 million.<\/p>\n \u201cI am in partnership on the new machine with a fabulous family, and the coalition talks are definitely more relaxed than those in my time in politics,\u201d Key told Society Insider.<\/p>\n The H130 is a favourite among Auckland\u2019s super wealthy. Rich-listers, including property titan Steve Owen and Empire Capital\u2019s Paula and Simon Herbert, have similar machines.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also known to be the preferred transportation for Mowbray and Williams.<\/p>\n After countless headlines, the couple\u2019s controversial application for a helipad at their $24m Westmere property was approved in June<\/a> at a resource consent hearing.<\/p>\n However, Mowbray and Williams have been sitting on a consent they cannot use until appeal proceedings are determined.<\/p>\n In October, Quiet Sky Waitemat\u0101, the Tree Council and Urban Auckland appealed against Auckland Council\u2019s decision to grant resource consent, and despite the council being the respondent, it was firmly on the appellant\u2019s side.<\/p>\n There is still no official word on landings; it was reported another hearing was to be scheduled for this month but that has yet to happen.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, we reported in October that Te Arai Links and Tara Iti had just over a month to make sure their rich and famous members could continue to arrive in helicopters<\/a> to enjoy a round on their world-famous golf courses.<\/p>\n Auckland Council issued abatement notices in September to the Tara Iti club and Te Arai Links, stating that, because of a lack of resource consent, helicopter operations would cease on November 21.<\/p>\n However, high-flying golfers got a reprieve for the summer. Auckland Council extended the clubs\u2019 deadline to March 31 to give them more time to apply for resource consent.<\/p>\n The surprise hospitality hit<\/p>\n We were the first to reveal in September 2024 that hospitality sisters Bronwyn and Jessica Payne, who own Ponsonby establishments, Hoppers Garden Bar and Elmo\u2019s, had secured the lease on the former SPQR restaurant spot.<\/p>\n Many regulars of the Ponsonby Rd hospitality institution SPQR were sceptical of what the Payne sisters could bring to the iconic venue. But since the grand opening in February<\/a>, the Paynes and their staff have pleased both young and old with a space that\u2019s always got buzz and has even impressed the reviewers.<\/p>\n Jacuzzi hosted a packed Melbourne Cup event in early November with Veuve Clicquot, a nod to the SPQR days<\/a> when the Clicquot yellow awnings were a signature. Later that month, it was named as one of the Viva top 50 Auckland restaurants<\/a>, not only earning a place on the list, but also winning a special category award as the best place to dress up, which surprised the sisters and their staff who were all humble but very proud.<\/p>\n Last Friday was their busiest day since opening, with Christmas bookings overflowing.<\/p>\n Last night, they kept their Hopper bar open past midnight for their annual orphans\u2019 Christmas, where travelling tourists can come together to start their Christmas Day away from their families.<\/p>\n Jacuzzi is closed from today until January 7, and the Paynes tell Society Insider they are planning a huge first birthday party at the end of this summer, which will be full of glamour and gratitude.<\/p>\n Most popular society politician<\/p>\n Education and Immigration Minister Erica Stanford\u2019s influence in Auckland\u2019s society circles has been impossible to ignore this year.<\/p>\n Among her obligations in her East Coast electorate, Stanford has become one of Breast Cancer Foundation New Zealand\u2019s (BCFNZ) biggest champions, as she continues the work of her former colleague, the late Nikki Kaye.<\/p>\n With her good friend, veteran Auckland restaurateur Tony Astle, she championed an BCFNZ charity event in May.<\/p>\n She was the special guest and speaker at a $3000-per-head BCFNZ dinner curated by Astle at the Wave Room, inside AUT.<\/p>\n Stanford and her husband Kane, who is the general manager of NZ-based beverage business Besos Margarita, were guests at property developer Nigel McKenna and Sarisa Nasinprom\u2019s lavish engagement party<\/a> last month at McKenna\u2019s Abstract Hotel.<\/p>\n The pair make quite the power couple, and aside from the bride and groom to be, were the most popular couple in the room with Auckland\u2019s movers and shakers.<\/p>\n The golden scandal we didn\u2019t see coming<\/p>\n We interviewed former Labour Cabinet Minister Stuart Nash<\/a> mid-year, about his new business, Nash Kelly Global, a partnership with Kiwi forestry tycoon Andrew Kelly.<\/p>\n Established after Nash was dismissed from Cabinet by Prime Minister at the time Chris Hipkins for sharing confidential Cabinet information, the business offers a very discreet, high-end service for high-net worth individuals looking to relocate to NZ through the golden visa programme.<\/p>\n Nash told Society Insider that leaving politics has allowed him to reinvent himself, but also continue the work he was doing within his portfolios of tourism and economic development.<\/p>\n Nash was a surprise speaker at September\u2019s NZ First conference in Palmerston North, with the party\u2019s leader Winston Peters saying Nash would be a \u201cseamless\u201d addition to the party. Nash told the media afterwards that his former party had gone \u201cwoke\u201d and Hipkins had stabbed him in the back.<\/p>\n Three days later, in what we are sure Nash himself would describe as a trying-too-hard moment of being anti-woke, he disgraced himself in an interview with Sean Plunket on The Platform<\/a>, describing a woman as a \u201cperson with a p**** and a pair of t***\u201d.<\/p>\n Within a week, Nash had resigned from his contracting job at recruitment agency Robert Walters, and later that month, was dropped from a government trade and investment promotion trip to the United States.<\/p>\n Nash Kelly Global continues to serve high-net worth individuals, and Society Insider predicts Nash will also be moving into high-end real estate sales after the Government\u2019s announcement two weeks ago that holders of the Active Investor Plus residency visa will be able to purchase or build a home in NZ.<\/p>\n As for next year\u2019s election and NZ First, as long as Nash is humble, there\u2019s potential for him to become a politician as well as a businessman, again.<\/p>\n Weddings of the year, in Queenstown, Maui and Venice<\/p>\n The year\u2019s best society wedding was also the first of 2025. US-based former Victoria\u2019s Secret model, Maia Cotton, married New York venture capitalist Max Feldstein<\/a> in Queenstown on January 2.<\/p>\n With rumours of pop star Justin Bieber in attendance, the local media were in a spin.<\/p>\n Although Bieber wasn\u2019t spotted at the wedding, there were many guests from the pop star\u2019s circle, including IMG Entertainment\u2019s Cully Smoller, a close friend of model Gigi Hadid, with his fianc\u00e9e, model Kendall Visser, and her model brother Neels. (Smoller once dated Bieber\u2019s wife Hailey.)<\/p>\n Aside from the bride and groom, the stars of the show were Sports Illustrated cover star model Brooks Nader and her three sisters, Mary Holland, Grace Ann and Sarah Jane, who, days before the wedding, made international headlines by swimming naked in one of the Southern Alps\u2019 glacial lakes while on a heli-hike in the mountains.<\/p>\n Those shenanigans didn\u2019t make the sisters\u2019 Disney+ reality series Love Thy Nadar when it premiered in August.<\/p>\n The Cotton family are close friends of Sally Ridge and her children \u2013 Boston, Astin and Mclane Parore. Sally\u2019s boyfriend, multimillionaire Queenstown property developer John Darby, Boston\u2019s girlfriend Tabitha Jessop, and Astin\u2019s girlfriend Amelia Beder were all in Queenstown for the wedding celebrations.<\/p>\n Darby\u2019s award-winning Amisfield restaurant was the spot for a glamorous New Year\u2019s Eve wedding pre-party.<\/p>\n The couple\u2019s nuptials were at the Italian-inspired private estate Colpo Di Fulmine on Lower Shotover Rd. The black-tie reception was held at Drift Bay Private Villa, set on 10 acres of waterfront land with views of The Remarkables, Lake Wakatipu and Cecil Peak.<\/p>\n Drift Bay was also the setting in February for the Taika Waititi-directed ad for De\u2019Longhi<\/a>, starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, who was filming adventure movie Heart of the Beast in Central Otago at the time.<\/p>\n While Cotton came home for her nuptials, the other two weddings of the year took place overseas.<\/p>\n In June, New Zealand\u2019s uber wealthy gathered at the $20m Hawaiian home of Sky TV founder and rich-lister Craig Heatley, for the wedding<\/a> of his Sydney-based daughter Sophie.<\/p>\n The Maui black-tie wedding to her long-term partner, former Australian water polo Olympian, Tyler Martin, was organised by Laice Bollen from Place of LB. Bollen had also organised Cotton\u2019s wedding and the 2023 Australian wedding of Cotton\u2019s fellow Kiwi Victoria Secret model, Georgia Fowler.<\/p>\n Guests of note included Below Deck star Katie Flood and Zuru co-owners Nick and Mat Mowbray, along with Nick\u2019s fianc\u00e9e, Jaimee Lupton, and Mat\u2019s wife, Christina Tang.<\/p>\n The most glamorous wedding was in Venice in October. Kiwi heiress Ali Andrews officially married Raphael Wertheimer<\/a>, the son of New York-based multi-billionaire Alain Wertheimer, the co-owner of Chanel.<\/p>\n In Venice, the couple played host to a glittering contingent of well-known Kiwis, who spent nearly a week celebrating along the canals.<\/p>\n More than a dozen Kiwis made the trip, including Italian-based America\u2019s Cup sailing legend, Peter Burling, his wife Lucinda and her sister Arabella Nelson; former broadcaster Dominic Bowden and his fianc\u00e9e Esther Cronin; along with rich-list daughters Cameo Turner and Libby Owen, with her brother Nick; and Monaco-based rich-listers Paula and Simon Herbert.<\/p>\n The young entrepreneur of the year<\/p>\nHannah and Beauden Barrett in the vineyards of Champagne.
Hannah and Beauden Barrett are hosted for a Dom P\u00e9rignon tasting at Mo\u00ebt & Chandon.<\/p>\n
Marc Ellis and Mibella Villafana in Ibiza.<\/p>\n
Teagan Voykovich and Aaron Smith separated this year.<\/p>\n
Sir John Key has his pilot license and upgraded his helicopter this year. <\/p>\n
Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray.<\/p>\n
The 16th green at Te Arai Links North Course. Photo \/ Ricky Robinson<\/p>\n
Bronwyn and Jessica Payne launched Jacuzzi this year, the new bar and restaurant on the site of the former SPQR.<\/p>\n
Jacuzzi was named as one of Auckland’s best restaurants in the Viva top 50 restaurant awards in November.<\/p>\n
Property developer Nigel McKenna with Education Minister Erica Stanford at McKenna and Sarisa Nasinprom’s engagement party in November. Photo \/ Paul Menezes<\/p>\n
Former Cabinet Minister Stuart Nash. Photo \/ Warren Buckland<\/p>\n
Stuart Nash and Andrew Kelly.<\/p>\n
Max Feldstein and Maia Cotton at their wedding reception at Drift Wood Bay. <\/p>\n
Grace Ann Nader, left, and sister Brooks Nader, front left and centre, at the wedding of NZ model Maia Cotton and Max Feldstein in Queenstown.<\/p>\n
Brad Pitt and Taika Waititi spent time together in Queenstown earlier this year, filming a commercial for De’Longhi.<\/p>\n
Tyler Martin and Sophie Heatley got married in Maui.<\/p>\n
Ali Andrews and Raphael Wertheimer got married this year in Venice, after a summer travelling in Europe.<\/p>\n
Astin Parore shows off his new Eco-Bag at New World.<\/p>\n