Buying a holiday gift for the person who has everything is no easy feat. But fear not: Robb Report ANZ is here to help. We’ve assembled gift ideas for 2024, ranging from state-of-the-art fashion, to cutting-edge home design and high jewellery

Whether you’re shopping for a world traveller, a dedicated diamond lover or a budding watch collector, the gifts below will impress even the most discerning personalities on your list.

Over the Rainbow

Cartier Tuttitutti ring, POA; cartier.com

The Crown’s Jewels

Rolex Oyster Lady-Datejust, around $245,000; rolex.com

Hit the High Notes

Amouage Cristal & Gold Man eau de parfum, $2,990; libertineparfumerie.com.au

Hoop Dreams

Van Cleef & Arpels Bouton d’or bracelet, around $66,000; vancleefarpels.com

Neat Package

Glenmorangie’s Signet Highlands single malt $370; glenmorangie.com

Wristy Business

Tiffany Elsa Peretti® Split Cuff, $35,000; tiffany.com

Best Foot Forward

Fendi Flow sneakers, $1,650; fendi.com

Silver Lining

Buccellati caviar bowl, around $11,500; buccelati.com

Perfect Shot

Ardbeg The Abyss single malt whisky, around $27,500; ardbeg.com

Living the Cream

Ralph Lauren Purple Label Gregory tuxedo jacket, around $5,460; ralphlauren.com 

The Big Sleep

Louis Vuitton bed trunk, $325,000; louisvuitton.com

Flower Power

Hublot MP-15 Takashi Murakami Tourbillon Sapphire Rainbow watch, POA; hublot.com

Slip Service

Christian Louboutin Dandelion Strass Eternity loafers, around $7,395; christianlouboutin.com 

The Cutest Couple

Fairfax & Roberts Manhattan Collection Burmese red spinel and diamond earrings, $79,000; fairfaxandroberts.com.au

Mix Master

Armani Club cocktail cabinet, POA; armani.com

For collectors and quick-to-pop connoisseurs, there’s never been a better time to focus their energies on Champagne. Quality has shot up dramatically in the last 15 years, with industry players and pundits all betting on the benefits of a more diverse expression of terroir across the entire region.

Fancy a vintage, rosé or single varietal to drink throughout a meal? Increasingly finessed examples of Champagne from small grower-producers (those who don’t sell their grapes to the big houses but instead focus on their own boutique labels) means the list at your local restaurant is showing more divergence than ever, with extra-dry, low-pressure and low-dosage styles also playing a starring role. Even major houses like Bollinger, Krug, Louis Roederer are bottling better Champagne than they have in decades.

Case in point, Dom Pèrignon. This past October, big daddy D partnered with Jean-Michel Basquiat’s estate to produce artful holiday packaging for its 2015 vintage release. This means Basquiat—the renegade Brooklynite credited with elevating graffiti to the realm of high art—has joined the ranks of artists like Björk, David Lynch, Jeff Koons and Karl Lagerfeld who have all been tapped previously to deck out the curvy black bottle.  

Midnight revellers queued down the block in New York’s East Village to enjoy Basquiat’s mastery at The Brant Foundation—and a night of free-flowing Dom. It was another highly considered collab in a world of high-brow hookups. Yet the embracing of the artist’s manic style only underlines how much this luxury lynchpin has changed. Champagne today criss-crosses the social spectrum, and while demand continues, beneath the gloss and glamour of 21^st-century spin, the variety is going back to its roots.

The real revolution in Champagne is happening under the feet of makers, where earthy experimentations are the order of the day. Big houses like Krug and Louis Roederer have been shaken up by individual visionaries like Anselme Selosse who came along and overlaid a more Burgundian-type philosophy over the tightly regulated region. Since the grower-producer category exploded, it’s radically shifted perceptions away from the idea that Champagne is all about the label, to get people talking about what’s inside the bottle.

And in tiny wine bars, top hotels and trendy restaurants, you can dine out on once-obscure drops from fantastic producers like Egly-Ouriet, Larmandier-Bernier, Berêche et Fils, or Vouette et Sorbee to savour wines you simply couldn’t buy 10 years ago. Master of Wine, Ned Goodwin, believes Champagne is one of the most exciting categories of wine on earth right now, evolving faster than any other scene. “The grower revolution has been around for a while. But in terms of the quality, I mean: wow!” he says, shaking his hair from his eyes.

As this bona fide wine expert explains in his charismatic rapid-fire style, makers are breaking free of stereotypes to truly showcase their own backyards, and are on a mission to share not only their unique terroir but also their own family’s quiet corner of culture. “They’re striving to create wine that is properly demarcated not only by the way they are crafting it but by the geologies and the mesoclimates it represents.”

If the 20th century was about terrific winemaking, then the 21st century is about the vineyards; specifically, the health of the soil and the commitment to crafting wine in the vineyard, not in the blending room. It’s quite a shift for a region that’s been obsessed with luxury marketing and formal dinners at stuffy manor houses. Today you’re more likely to see a trending winemaker photographed in overalls next to their horse or chicken coop, sprouting about their biodynamic methods, as you are to find one standing in a Michelin-starred kitchen in a bow tie. 

Progressive producers like Chartogne-Taillet from Merfy, Cedric Bouchard in the Côte de Bars, Laherte Frères from Côteaux sud d’Épernay and Ulysse Collin from west of Congy in the Côteaux du Petite Morin, on the very southern tip of the Côte des Blancs, are gaining worldwide recognition.  Tourism to the region, as a result, is exploding. But the end consumer is the real winner, with more to explore than ever before.

As wine critic Nick Stock points out, tiny labels are better placed to share their wares because of the trust the wider public have developed in the Champagne category.

And while a softening of the general luxury market has occurred over the last five years, intriguing, mood-lifting new experiences are still being prioritised by punters. Moreover, a new generation of winemakers are shedding light on the diverse terroir that lies beneath Champagne so we can taste so much more that we would ever have dreamed could be possible. 

Jump to:

God Father of Soil – meet Charles Philipponnat

Speaking Volumes – How Jacquesson Has Secured It’s Place in History

Them The Rules – A Modern Guide to Drinking Champagne

Ladies First – Meet The Women Heading Up the Industry’s Leading Houses

Pick of the Bunch – Know the Top 5 Champagnes today

Now That’s What We Call a Bar Crawl – The Planet’s Top Spots for Good Fizz

Host with the most

Champagne Jacquesson has come of age. With greater finesse than any other fledgling house, the brand has reinvented itself. By placing a priority on high-quality grapes, it has forged a style that embraces a fuller bodied elegance. 

For connoisseurs building up a cellar, Jacquesson is a must-have luxury. The Cuvée 700 is its flagship Champagne, and the house is often referred to as a “baby Krug” in wine circles as their base wines are matured in cask and then sold in a blended style. 

Don’t be fooled by the minimal packaging, though: for over 20 years, Jacquesson has captured the attention of those in-the-know for its prudent vineyard management which allows for a terrific expression of terroir. Based in the French village of Dizy, the label’s output stands apart for the character and concentration of its fruit. Their wines consistently deliver a mouth-filling Champagne that’s beautifully balanced, as complex as a white Burgundy and full of delectable chalk. Admired above all for its brave decision-making in the vineyards, Jacquesson now has 19 hectares being farmed using organic methods.

Champagne critic and author Tyson Stelzer has followed the label’s trailblazing, anti-establishment ascent more than most. “Jacquesson has done more to dramatically shift production than almost any other small producer,” he says. “They made a massive revolution by tearing up contracts with most of their growers and slashing production. They did the exact opposite of every other house for the sake of upholding quality. And now their wines have exceptional depth and character from large-format, open vinification and well-managed, mostly, estate vineyards.” 

Perhaps it’s the house’s formidable elegance, expressive style and long ageing capacity that helped them to attract a buyer, when it was acquired by the François Pinault-owned Chateau Latour in December 2022. With a strategy to stay small but beautiful, Pinault’s holding company Artémis Domaines seeks to purchase land with unique terroir all over the world. It currently holds some of the most prestigious estates in the world, across Burgundy, Bordeaux, Napa Valley and now, Champagne. Highlights include Château Latour in Pauillac, Clos D’Eugenie and Clos de Tart—both in Burgundy—and Château-Grillet located in Rhône Valley.

Jean Garandeau, managing director of Artémis Domaines, says that although the holding company is ultimately owned by the luxury conglomerate Kering, it’s business as usual at Jacquesson. 

“Yann Le Gall and Mathilde Prier still form the core of the winemaking team despite ownership changes. They are young, talented and very naturally leaders in their field, so clearly there was no point to change them,” he says in his serious French tone.

Granadeau knows only too well what people will think; that the best vintages of Jacquesson are behind them. But he refutes the idea resolutely. “We don’t want to grow the company,” he says. “We don’t want to change the boutique-style positioning of the brand at all. We prefer to do less but to make the best quality possible. The first priority at Jacquesson is to always make sure that the best possible fruit is held for the Cuvée 700, and if we realise that this cuvée can live on its own without specific plots then we can look to bottle some single vineyard wine, but this is not something we are doing every year.”

This distinction is an important one. It means that single-varietal, single-plot and single-vintage wines from Jacquesson are rare, more sought after and only eventuate in excellent years when quality and quantity allow. These wines have been known to be exceptional, the kind collectors and drink-now connoisseurs lust for. 

“Running after volumes is really not our strategy,” insists Garandeau. “We are really much more focused on the singularity of the wines and of course the quality. We want to share the emotions of these wines with the universe.”

And we want what they are bottling in our glass.

Champagne Jacquesson

As the Champagne region’s output has diversified, so too have the number and names listed on restaurant wine lists. Champagne lists are now longer, reflecting a trend toward splitting a bottle of Champagne to start a meal, in place of white Burgundy.

To make shopping for your next drop that much easier, we have compiled our favourite places to explore the Champagne region, from afar. No matter where you find yourself next, from a quiet place run by Francophile in Ginza, to the grand old arcades of Paris’s second arrondissement, we give you some of finest Champagne lists written.

COQODAQ , New York

Lip-licking deliciousness awaits at a hip new bar that presents the classic pairing of Champagne and… fried chicken. Strange, yes. But here’s the thing: the tiny bubbles and high acid of the Champagne tempers the salt, spice and rich chew of chicken—to tasty effect. And on this compact list you will find first-rate rosé from great makers like Billecart-Salmon, blanc de noirs from Côte des Bars producer Fleury, and cheeky half bottles of Krug Grande Cuvée.

12 East 22nd Street; coqodaq.com

Legrand Filles & Fils, Paris

For obvious reasons, the French capital is the best city in the world for Champagne quaffing, and this iconic Parisian destination doesn’t miss a beat. Founded in 1880, the restaurant and wine store occupy two sides of a covered arcade in the 2nd arrondissement. Expect to stumble across rare back vintages of Jacquesson, fresh and complex examples from Bérêche et Fils, and sporadically seen Frederic Savart bottles.

1 Rue de la Banque; caves-legrand.com

Lita, London

Nestled in the heart of Marylebone, this bistro is a chic spot from which to enjoy a memorable glass. Amid a modern, Mediterranean-inflected backdrop, rare drops are waiting to be discovered—from Chartogne-Taillet Sainte Anne brut to delicious rosé examples from the likes of Charles Heidsieck and Bollinger. Chef Luke Ahearne creates a confident seasonal menu that guests can dip in and out of, from tiny snacks to fully fledged meals. 

7-9 Paddington Street; litamarylebone.com

La Nuit Blanche, Tokyo

The perfect place to scratch an itch for French wine. Devoted owner Toshi Haba carries an inventory of around 6,000 wines, 1,500 of them hailing from the Champagne region. Here, it’s possible to run the gamut of taste, from tiny grower-producer imprints to long-forgotten back vintages by the grand marques.  

7-chōme-2-8, Ginza; la-nuit-blanche.therestaurant.jp

Gimlet, Melbourne 

At Andrew McConnell’s upscale cocktail bar in Cavendish House, his team has prepared a bible-sized wine list with an enviable Champagne selection (including an entire page devoted to cult producer Jacques Selosse). Beverage manager Anthony Pieri was recently honoured at Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards for presiding over one of the best wine catalogues in the country. Come for the glamorous Chicago-style building, stay for the immense choice of tipples. 

33 Russell Street; gimlet.melbourne 

Le Parc at Domaine Les Crayeres, Champagne region

With direct access to the province’s latest and greatest, this restaurant’s list is consistently voted the best in the world. Indeed, for serious Champagne lovers, there’s no better address in Reims. Featuring around 1,000 local examples and more than 2,000 French wines, the list is divided into style, maison, cooperative, region and vigneron. But, really, most drops can be filed under “Incredible”.

64 Boulevard Henry Vasnier, Reims; lescrayeres.com

What could better illustrate a famous family divided than a convoy of its children arriving in separate black SUVs, then mounting the steps of a Nevada courthouse. The Silver State’s court system is fabulously discreet, thus the perfectly private setting for three of Rupert Murdoch’s children—Elisabeth, James and Prudence—to wage war on their father and his bid to change the family trust in favour of his eldest son, Lachlan.

Rupert Murdoch’s retirement last year cemented Lachlan, executive chairman of Fox and chair of News Corp, as his chosen successor. He’s never denied his children would compete for that crown. When asked if son Lachlan was his “natural heir apparent” in 1995, he responded, “Well I’ve got another son, and a daughter” (forgetting, presumably, in that moment his eldest child Prudence from his first marriage). In 1997, Murdoch told a journalist that his three children had agreed his successor would be Lachlan, the “first among equals”. (Again he’d overlooked Prudence, who later said she received a huge apology and the biggest bouquet she’d seen. According to Vanity Fair, Prudence is the only sibling “not directly competing for his business affections”, yet Murdoch’s oldest child still rolled up to Reno’s Second Judicial District Court in September.)

The ruthlessness and brutal pragmatism—even amorality—required to be politically powerful and inordinately rich are not qualities we’ve come to attach to being a good mum or dad. We just don’t view love as something subordinate to our financial interests. Certainly up to a hundred years ago, children of the West were regarded as smaller adults; one’s child was expected—depending on their class and circumstances—to either stay silent and elsewhere, or to labour for little pay with useful little hands. But more recent visions of good parenting include notions of warmth, encouragement and guiding the young to an uneasy mix of selfhood and citizenship (to being completely themselves and sharing their toys). Contemporary parenting ideals tend not to include pitting siblings against each other for favour or fortune, rewarding the progeny most like yourself, or battling three of your children in a probate court to protect the interests of a fourth.

Yet who does anyone appoint in old age as their executor? Surely it’s the person who seems most reliable and sensible among your offspring, the one whose values around money and legacy align most closely with your own. Why then shouldn’t the chairman emeritus of Fox Corporation and News Corp choose a successor on those same terms, just because we’re talking US$21 billion (around $31.7 billion) and the future of conservative media? 

He’s not the only Australian-born billionaire battling their children. Mining magnate Gina Rinehart vehemently rejected her son and daughter’s accusations of “fraudulent and dishonest design” in a protracted legal battle. John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart claim to be the rightful owners of Hancock Prospecting’s 50 percent stake in Hope Downs mine, left to them in 1992 by its founder, their grandfather Lang Hancock, in the family trust. Gina Rinehart, worth US$30.5 billion ($46 billion) and Australia’s richest person, argues that another legal dispute over ownership of the iron ore complex prevents that transfer of wealth, but John and Bianca want the $4.8 billion now.

Then, of course, there are the Pratts. Paula Hitchcock is fighting her half-siblings—billionaire Visy boss Anthony Pratt and his sisters Heloise and Fiona—to prove that as the love child of their father, the late packaging magnate Richard Pratt, she’s legally entitled to a share of the Pratt Family Trust. Born to Richard and his long-term mistress, socialite turned horse trainer Shari-Lea Hitchcock, in 1997, Paula’s asking the NSW Supreme Court to nullify a deed of exclusion that cut off her inheritance as a child.

She was not forgotten in her father’s will when Richard Pratt died in 2009. Paula inherited the waterfront house in which she’d been raised in Watson’s Bay, a rural property on the NSW South Coast and reportedly more than $22 million in shares. “It doesn’t matter how much you have,” said the Australian Financial Review’s Patrick Durkin, trying to explain on The Fin podcast why enough is never quite so for children of billionaires. “People will always want more.” But it’s as equally human that a child—whether they’re from a long marriage or a love affair, whether they be fully grown or not even close, whether the spoils in question are the Pratts’ $24.3 billion net worth or a cabinet of porcelain ladies—sees their own standing and the love of their parent reflected in how big the portion of the pie served to them.

Of course there’s another party in these outsized, juicy family dramas. It’s us, the spectators. But our response to the decimation of a famous family can’t be reduced to schadenfreude. Why else would we find ourselves siding with this heir or that lovechild, in the way we hope for a win for this Roy or that in Succession (depending on which loathsome character is on-screen in the moment)? Intra-family squabbles are so commonplace, so petty, so ripe with lifelong resentment. It’s their naked, bloody humanness—alongside the aberration of money trouncing family bonds—that’s the stuff of art. 

The short-changed illegitimate son Edmund in Shakespeare’s King Lear seethes, “Why bastard? Wherefore base?” before plotting his half-brother’s destruction. The children of an ageing warlord butcher his kingdom and each other as they grab for power in Akira Kurosawa’s Lear-inspired epic, Ran. In the Book of Genesis, Jacob cheats his older brother Esau out of his dying father’s blessing and buys his birthright for a well-timed bowl of soup. 

Why, even Rupert’s second wife, Anna Murdoch, in her 1987 novel Family Business, has the main character—a newspaper proprietor whose two sons and daughter are rivals for the empire—admonish her children: “I thought you would come to trust and respect each other. I thought that responsibility would teach each of you humility. I was wrong. It taught you greed and disloyalty and hatred.” 

Anna Murdoch could have asked for half of a fortune in her divorce from Rupert in 1999. Instead, as mother to Elisabeth, Lachlan and James, she insisted on the creation of the Murdoch Family Trust. It would ensure her three children and Prudence would have equal control of the empire—one vote each—while Rupert had four votes. (Grace and Chloe, his daughters with third wife Wendi Deng, would have an equal stake and no vote). Now Murdoch Sr wants to amend the “irrevocable” family trust so that Prudence, Elisabeth and James can’t dethrone Lachlan after his death. Just as Anna Murdoch feared her family would be corroded by the fortune, the 93-year-old Rupert fears his fortune will be corroded by family. He believes that after his death, the kingdom he’s built will fragment under the influence of the more politically moderate siblings. (James, for one, has expressed frustration over what he called News Corp’s “ongoing denial” of climate change.) For the ageing emperor Rupert Murdoch, only one child can be relied upon to preserve the commercial value of the empire.

The Nevada probate commissioner found that Murdoch could change the trust if he’s able to show he’s acting in good faith and for the sole benefit of his heirs. When he married his fifth wife Elena Zhukov at his Californian vineyard in June, neither James, Prudence, nor Elisabeth attended the wedding.

Illustration by James Dignan