The Plot Thickens
Production for the third season of HBO’s award-winning anthology series The White Lotus is already underway in Thailand. But where will Mike White’s sun-soaked dramedy go from here?
After an impressive debut, HBO’s critically acclaimed social satire The White Lotus returned for a second installment, offering viewers more dysfunctionally affluent guests and put-out staffers and a serious case of travel envy. The immensely popular series has amassed a cult following within the luxury world, many of whom have strong opinions about where the show should film next—and who could possibly fill the Jennifer Coolidge–size hole in their hearts.
Ahead of season three’s arrival next year, we asked top designers, travel advisers, jewellers, chefs and sommeliers—plus a casting director, a mafia expert and even a former mobster—to take a turn in the showrunner’s chair. After all, who better to weigh in than those who spend their time catering to those “challenging” clients the show so successfully sends up? If you’re reading this, Mike White, take notes.
WHERE WOULD YOU HAVE SET THE NEXT SEASON?
• “Palm Springs, like Hawaii or Sicily, is one of those singular locations where you have a dramatic landscape and this sense of reality versus fantasy. It evokes Hollywood glamour, but there’s an underbelly. There are also a lot of over-the-top gays, which seems to be an important part of The White Lotus brand.”—Jonathan Adler, potter, interior designer, and author
• “If they were to do it in Iceland, there’s so many riffs that they could pull just having a different climate. There’s a big troll culture there, the northern lights, volcanic tunnels—things you’ve never seen or encountered before.”—Jennifer Schwartz, managing partner at Authentic Explorations.
• “As someone who loves to get off the beaten path and immerse myself into other cultures, I’d like to see a season of White Lotus in Egypt. You couldn’t possibly find a more dramatic setting than the pyramids or the River Nile.” Camilla Franks, Fashion Designer Camilla
IF YOU HAD TO CAST YOURSELF AS A NEW CHARACTER, WHAT ROLE WOULD YOU PLAY?
• “The family decorator that gets killed. Local designer gone missing? Where should I send my casting tape?”—Jeremiah Brent, interior designer, founder of lifestyle brand Atrio, and Queer Eye host
WHO WOULD YOU CAST?
• “I think someone comedic like Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson from Broad City would be great. Who’s going to replace the Jennifer Coolidge of it all? So maybe it’s a duo, like Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston.”—June Rodil, master sommelier and CEO and partner of Goodnight Hospitality
• “Kristin Scott Thomas, Emily Blunt, or Anne Hathaway. Ewan McGregor, Ryan Gosling—Rupert Everett for sure, and maybe even Meryl Streep.”—Jules Maury, head of Scott Dunn Private
DO YOU HAVE A VACATION HORROR STORY À LA THE WHITE LOTUS?
• “When I was in Egypt a few years ago, someone was murdered in the hotel. Some wealthy businessman brought in a hooker who ended up stabbing and robbing him at a very glamorous hotel in the middle of Cairo.”—Martyn Lawrence Bullard, interior designer and author
• “A huge group came in to celebrate someone’s 50th birthday. The night before, they were all out on the patio drinking and having a good time. On the way back to the room, the guest of honour tripped, fell, hit his head and passed away.”—Leigh Anne Dolecki, president of concierge association Les Clefs d’Or USA
“We were hitchhiking in Thailand, trying to get to some restaurant that we had heard about from locals. Long story short, we ended up in the wrong car, and this gentleman decided to drive on the wrong side of the highway at full speed uphill. So, when we got to a red light we jumped out, but I left my cell phone in the car.”—Matt Kammerer, executive chef at the Michelin two-star Harbor House Inn
• “A game ranger took a group out for a ride at night and said, ‘I’ll be right back, I thought I heard something,’ and walked away from the vehicle. He didn’t come back, and the guests started getting nervous. There’s a radio in the vehicle, so at some point they called in. As it turns out, a leopard had jumped from a tree and killed him.”—Lisa Beach, casting director whose credits include Wedding Crashers and Center Stage
CREATE YOUR OWN WHITE LOTUS PLOT.
• “I imagine Jennifer Coolidge’s husband turning up, but he’s with another wife. Weirdly, she’s not like that broken, older woman—she’s far more confident, sassy, together, well-dressed. Maybe she could be Jennifer’s niece or someone who lost their inheritance [from Coolidge’s character, Tanya] because he inherited all her money. There could also be a Jeremy Irons–type character from Brideshead Revisited sitting in a corner with a book, and maybe he’s really Jennifer’s long-lost son and he’s out to get revenge because he loved his mother so much.
“To throw it off a bit, there’s always one of these families, but maybe rather than elegant, rich, refined people, they own car showrooms in Texas or somewhere in the Midwest. They arrive with their sugar-sodden children and are putting everyone’s noses out of joint, but we all love them by the end, and they’re the heroes.”—Adam Brown, founder of resortwear label Orlebar Brown, whose orange polo Cameron (Theo James) sported in the season-two opener.
• “There’s a group of people that came together. They’re on the Africa leg of an Abercrombie & Kent trip around the world, and they go by private charter to one of those wildly exclusive and expensive places like Singita. This woman in her 50s, maybe Viola Davis, is on this spiritual journey to Africa to discover her roots and really immerse herself in the culture. She has a name-change ceremony and goes to the sangoma, a witch doctor, who tells her fortune.
“Suffice to say, she finds herself, but as it happens, sometimes these single women get a very bad case of what the locals call khaki fever. That’s when an American woman falls madly in love with their game ranger.
“The guide, who’s the black-sheep heir to a South African diamond fortune, is going to be either Chris Hemsworth or Will Poulter. Somebody’s going to get killed on safari, but you don’t know whether they were eaten by a lion or thrown in front of one or bitten by a black mamba.”—Lisa Beach
WHAT HOTEL WOULD YOU USE AS A STAND-IN FOR WHITE LOTUS?
• “The Grand Hôtel de Cala Rossa in Corsica is one of the dreamiest hotels, and no one knows about it. When you go there, you’re either Middle Eastern royalty or some major European celebrity. It’s not like the South of France, where everybody’s just nobody and pretends to be somebody—this is the spot where people really go to hide.”—Sylva Yepremian, founder of jewellery brand Sylva & Cie
“The new One& Only Kéa Island would be fab, with all the Greek legends, intrigue and so much to explore: a stop in Athens, a visit to Amanzoe en route, diving for treasures.”—Jules Maury
WHAT DETAILS DOES THE WHITE LOTUS GET RIGHT?
• “I was obsessed with Villa Tasca from Daphne and Harper’s getaway in season two. The pool, the lounge, the citrus trees—everything about it was so dramatic and timeless. I love the idea of the historical murals on the walls reflecting the plotline.”—Jeremiah Brent
• “I think White Lotus shows the magic and the theatre of staying in luxury hotels. Suddenly, wherever you’re staying, as long as there are other guests, you find yourself in a live play where you get to know the other dramatic personae and speculate about them. That’s what White Lotus captures so brilliantly, and I think a lot of young people who only do Airbnb are missing out.”—Jonathan Adler
• “The Ferretti 97, the boat they used in the show, is one of the most luxurious, so I think it was appropriate. They used it for the day trip from Taormina to Palermo. It’s a five-cabin boat with six crew members. Last year, it was the biggest boat we had in Taormina.”—Vincenzo Sorbello, manager and CEO at charter specialist Vento di Grecale
• “I couldn’t help but be inspired by the overall styling and representation of resortwear in both seasons. In season one, you’ve got your laid-back, casual costumes, then really big and bold designer fashion in season two. Funnily enough, our 2025 high-summer collection is inspired by the TV series.”—Danny Ching, head of design at Frescobol Carioca
• “The Australian character, Murray Bartlett who plays Armond in the first season struck me because he is so true to life. Hotel general managers always play a straight bat to guests, but get them back of house and they are just lunatics. Behind closed doors they are always the ones to let their hair down.” Mike Dwyer, Virtuoso Adviser, Mainbeach Travel
• “Everyone paints Italian mobsters as old-world bigots, but although they never spoke within the guidelines of political correctness, they never judged people on the basis of colour, religion or sexuality. They only saw money, which, if it overrides hatreds, isn’t such a bad outlook. The Genovese family’s stronghold was Greenwich Village, and they either owned or controlled all the gay bars and clubs there for decades, long before ordinary Americans were ready to accept gays. In a strange way, the mob, by opening gay bars and clubs which were protected by mobsters, did more for gay rights than any other group in America.”—Louis Ferrante, author and former member of the Gambino crime family
WHERE DO YOU THINK THE WHITE LOTUS FALLS FLAT?
• “It’s a crime to stay at the hotel the whole time. It’s like an insult to culture and the region, and kind
of cringey to see that as a viewer. It’s probably not top of mind [for the characters] to go wander down a back alley somewhere and see what grandma’s cooking, which is unfortunate.”—Matt Kammerer
• “I think it was fantastic and genius for them to use Italian actors [including Simona Tabasco and Beatrice Grannò]. They were amazing, and the hotel itself is a gorgeous property. The thing that was just very confusing is the fact that they did a juxtaposition of the hotel and a beach that was two hours away. We have clients that come, and they’re like, ‘We want to go to the beach—where’s the beach?’, and there is no beach because the resort is on top of a mountain.”—Jennifer Schwartz
• “As a mum with an 11-year-old who has been to 31 countries, I would love them to have some younger role models—kids who learn languages, can sit at a table without a device, share their knowledge with parents.”—Cari Gray, founder of private-travel specialist Gray & Co.
• “The thing that was a bit confusing was the miles between the hotel and the other parts of Sicily. With a powerboat, going from Taormina to Cefalù, it takes about nine hours of navigation or more. But in the show, it only took, like, an hour.”—Vincenzo Sorbello
• “The idea that the drug dealer [Stefano Gianino] would belong to an influential mafia family from Palermo is a grotesque representation of the mafia. The mafia is a more complex phenomenon, characterised by people in power—politicians, businessmen. Imagine a plot with criminals and lawyers putting a strategy together to invest the proceeds of a crime. That would’ve been a better representation of the mafia.”—Antonio Nicaso, author, professor, and expert on organized crime
WHAT FORMER CHARACTER WOULD YOU LIKE TO RETURN?
• “I would love Portia [Haley Lu Richardson] to come back. What if she inherits a little bit of Tanya’s fortune, and then you see this kind of rags-to-riches story and how money can really damage a character. There was just a loving quirkiness about her that I really enjoyed watching. She was like a little mirror image of Jennifer Coolidge’s character, so I could almost see her growing int something very similar.”—Sylva Yepremian
IS THERE A FAN THEORY YOU WANT TO SEE PLAY OUT?
• “The main one is, what’s going to happen to Tanya’s money? I feel like Belinda needs some sort
of compensation, if not Portia.”— Danny Ching
• “There are always these rather horrific scenes that shock you, so I quite liked the idea of Tanya’s husband [Jon Gries] going into a meat grinder in the end.”—Adam Brown
[picture credits]
Plotline proposed by Martyn Lawrence Bullard, interior designer
TOP ILLUSTRATIONS BY Brahm Revel
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Omega Just Unveiled 9 Watches in Its New Constellation Observatory Collection
The line-up shows up a bevy of metals and colours, too, as well as two new calibres.
Omega’s latest watch is in a universe of its own.
The Swiss watchmaker just unveiled its new Constellation Observatory Collection today, the next step in its Constellation lineage and the first two-hand hour and minute timepieces to ever earn Master Chronometer certification. And if you were paying attention to any of the dazzling watches spotted at the Oscars this year, you would’ve caught a glimpse of the new line already: Sinners star Delroy Lindo rocked one of the models on the Academy Awards red carpet, giving us a pre-release preview of the collection.
Developed at Omega’s new Laboratoire de Précision (its chronometer testing lab open to all brands), the collection houses a set of nine 39.4 mm watches. The watches underwent 25 days of scrutiny there, analysed via a new acoustic testing method that recorded every sound emitted from the timepiece to track irregularities, temperature sensitivities, and more in the name of all things precision. (Details such as water resistance and power reserve are also thoroughly examined.) This meticulous process is all in the name of snagging that Master Chronometer label, meaning that the timepiece is highly accurate and surpasses the threshold for ultra-high performance. The Constellation Observatory Collection has now changed the game, though, thanks to its lack of a seconds hand.
“Until now, precision certification has required a seconds hand,” Raynald Aeschlimann, president and CEO of OMEGA, said in a press statement. “The development of a new acoustic testing methodology has made that requirement obsolete. It is this breakthrough that has enabled us to present the Constellation Observatory, the first two-hand watch to achieve Master Chronometer certification.”
In addition to notching its place in history, the collection also debuted a new pair of movements: the Calibre 8915 and the Calibre 8914, each perched on a skeletonised rotor base. The former’s Grand Luxe iteration will appear on the 950 Platinum-Gold model in the collection, which offers up that base in 18-karat Sedna Gold alongside a Constellation medallion in 18-karat white gold with an Observatory dome done in white opal enamel surrounded by stars. The second Calibre 8915, the Luxe, will find its home on the other precious-metal models in the line, either made with the brand’s 18-karat Sedna, Moonshine, or Canopus gold seen across the case, the hand-guilloché dial, and, of course, the movement itself. (Lindo chose to rock the Moonshine Gold on Moonshine Gold iteration, priced at approximately $86,000, for Sinners‘s big night at the Oscars.) As for the Calibre 8914, it can be found in the collection’s four steel models.
Each model is a callback to myriad design features on past Omega models. That two-hand dial, for one, comes from the 1948 Centenary (the brand’s first chronometer-certified automatic wristwatch), while the pie-pan dial (seen in various blue, green, and golden hues throughout the line) and that Constellation medallion caseback both appear on watches from 1952. The star adorning the space above 6 o’clock also harks back to 1950s timepieces from Omega. And to finish off the look, you can opt for alligator straps in a variety of colours, or perhaps a gold iteration to match the precious-metal models; the brick-like pattern on the 18-karat Moonshine bracelet was also inspired by Omega watches from the ’50s.
We’ll have to keep our eyes peeled for any other Constellation Observatory timepieces (or any other unreleased models from the brand) at the rest of the star-studded events headed our way this year—perhaps the Met Gala?
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In Search of White Gold
Colorado’s barely known San Juan Mountains do a fine line in bespoke skiing experiences, luring alpine-sports cognoscenti and billionaire thrill-seekers alike.
“Though no one currently on staff is at liberty to say, billionaire actor Tom Cruise is a very average heli-snowboarder. But although no one currently on staff is at liberty to say, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos—the world’s second richest human—makes up for Cruise’s inability with his off-piste prowess. The pair have been clients of Telluride Helitrax, a heli-skiing outfit operating in the backcountry behind Telluride Mountain Resort, in remote south-west Colorado, since 1982. My source, a former guide who prefers to remain anonymous, admits he’s entertained a host of household-name One Percenters over the years.”
“Power billionaires aren’t going to the popular resorts any more,” he reveals over a happy-hour drink at a Telluride bar. “Luxury skiing these days, it’s all about exclusivity. No one with any clout shares snow, and at every resort, no matter how fancy, you have to share the slopes. But nowhere is more exclusive than the backcountry. That’s your billionaire’s playground. And no backcountry is more exclusive than San Juan backcountry.”
Which is precisely why I am here. Australia’s considerable brigade of free-spending, snow-crazed executives may jet off to Vail and Aspen each northern winter for thrills, but it turns out some of the world’s most choicest ski experiences have been right under their noses—only a short helicopter ride, car journey or private jet flight from said resorts.
Packed into the ultra-rugged southern end of the Rocky Mountains, the San Juans are a little chunk of the Swiss Alps in the US—young, ridiculously spectacular formations known for their steep slopes, deep powder snow and Disney-esque triangular peaks, all bathed in 300-plus days of sunshine a year. And the region is augmented by unique, and select, backcountry options that rival anything currently in the upscale ski orbit.
Case in point: North America’s highest skiing setting, Silverton Mountain. Located in the heart of the San Juans, outside the tiny town of Silverton, the 4,111 m peak boasts 736 hectares of chair-accessible terrain set among what is reputedly the deepest, steepest snow in the nation. It also offers a further 10,000 hectares of private terrain, serviced by heli-ski operation Heli Adventures. This is the Shangri-La of skiing: every slope connoisseur has heard of it, though most wonder if it actually exists.
We arrive via the treacherous Million Dollar Highway, where a disturbing lack of guard rails sometimes causes travellers to plummet into the valley floor (the death toll, grimly, averages eight people per year). Silverton Mountain was bought in 2023 by Heli Adventures’ young co-founders Andy Culp and Brock Strasbourger. While private punters can book the hill in its entirety, starting from around $14,000 per day, plus extra for single heli-skiing runs, the destination is also open to the public from Thursdays to Saturdays through winter.
“Silverton is a bastion for the pure ski experience,” Culp says. “All that corporate consolidation that happened when ski resorts all over the world developed condos and real estate and got super-busy… well, it never happened here. You’re able to access Alaska-like terrain from an old rickety chairlift, but you’re an hour’s drive from a pretty major airport [Montrose]. And you can access snow that’s even better than most heli-skiing straight off your lift.”
There’s no radio-frequency lift passes when I arrive. In fact, I don’t get a lift pass at all. A discarded school bus doubles as the “second chairlift”; it picks me up and returns me to a yurt which serves as a restaurant and bar. “There’s a time and a place to hang out at The Little Nell [Aspen’s legendary après-ski bar] and the world doesn’t need more of that,” Culp says. “This is the new luxury. We also run a heli-ski business out of Aspen [Aspen Heli-Skiing] but this is where we come. You can’t put a price tag on what we have here.”
I drive away from the mountain, back along the perilous Million Dollar Highway, park my car and disappear into the San Juan National Forest with guide Kaylee Walden. This white-coated outback between Silverton and Ouray, dubbed “the Switzerland of America”, offers swathes of primo backcountry skiing terrain. The ski touring here is often likened to Europe’s iconic Haute Route—an emblematic trail between Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.
The operator Mountain Trip offers a Colorado version of that feted circuit, on a multi-day traverse between secluded huts. All in all, there’s nearly 8,000 km² of national forest and 2,500 hectares of wilderness to explore, frequented only by the occasional intrepid enthusiast.
A wood-burning sauna is being prepared as I arrive at Thelma Hut, 4,500 m above sea level. Traditionally, US Forest Service huts were humble affairs, with rudimentary bunks, self-service kitchens, and food supplies brought in by skiers. This evening, however, a chef is preparing local bison across from an open fireplace as the sun sets through a floor-to-ceiling window against a horizon of white mountains. As he works, I walk out into the snow to study the twilight sky; beaming planets shine down on me, necklaces of tiny stars sparkle.
Back down to earth, upon my return to “civilisation”, we take a two-hour car ride to Telluride, probing through the San Juans. The small town is picture-postcard pretty, wedged at the end of a box canyon surrounded by Colorado’s tallest waterfalls, and hosts the highest concentration of 4,000-m-plus peaks in the state. Most of its buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places, including a bank that was robbed in 1889 by the outlaw Butch Cassidy.
While the locale offers everything from luxurious on-mountain dining options to 7-km-long runs, it’s the heli-ski enterprise that’s lured me. Telluride Helitrax holds sole rights to over 500 km² of completely deserted ski terrain, a few minutes’ flying time from town. The company runs a range of Eurocopters which guests can charter into Colorado’s best alpine basins, cirques and couloirs. “The range mightn’t be as expansive as Alaska,” says Telluride Helitrax program director Joseph Shults. “But the views, the terrain, the snow depth and quality is as good.”
I’m staying in a privately owned three-bedroom penthouse apartment, where a helicopter takes off each morning for convenience (when I’m done carving clouds, I move a kilometre up the mountain to the seven-bedroom, three-storey mountain retreat Hood Park Haven, valued at around $42 million). Telluride Helitrax uses an abundance of drop-off locations, all above the tree line, meaning everyone from intermediates to experts can be catered for.
During my three-day odyssey, I don’t cross a single other ski track, but it’s the peace that is most startling. In this pocket of montane paradise, there is, literally, not a single sound—a stark contrast to the whirling fury of the chopper that transports me. My experienced guide Bill Allen won’t reveal who’s come before Robb Report. “You’d know their names,” he says, grinning.
And so the San Juans remain a secret to all but a fortunate few. Of all the luxuries the ultra-wealthy enjoy in the skiing ecosphere, the promise of untouched snow is by far the most enviable. Here in Colorado is where the white gold truly lies.
Photography: Kane Scheidegger (heli-skiing); Patrick Coulie (hut); Courtesy of Colorado Tourism Office (Hood Park Haven).
This article appears in the Autumn issue 2026 of Robb Report Australia New-Zealand. Click here to subscribe.
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A modern classic in the making, combining naturally aspirated power with elegant restraint to deliver performance that feels as refined as it is visceral.
In a year when carmakers of all persuasions sheepishly extended hyperbolic electric targets, it’s fitting that the monastic puritans of Maranello—who, lest we forget, won’t finally yield to the sin of battery power until October with the Elettrica—opted to make combustion their major power play.
As an uncertain future of AI omnipresence barrels towards us, the 12Cilindri—an analogue, open-topped tribute to Ferrari’s late-’60s/early-’70s grand tourer, the Daytona—represents a defiant fade into the past, a pause for breath, a fleeting return to The Good Times when nascent technology provoked excitement rather than existential dread.
Guiding this automotive nostalgia trip is, as the nomenclature suggests, a naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12 engine, generating an unceasing wave of power as it sears towards the 9,500 rpm redline with relative nonchalance. That’s because the 12Cilindri is not a mouth-foaming attack-dog. It scales performance heights with the refinement of the finest Italian works of art; its “Bumpy Road” mode facilitates comfy al fresco GT cruising, and even the imperious powerplant is mannerly at most speeds.
For all the yesteryear romance, progressive technologies and engineering, such as a world-class 8-speed transmission, advanced electronic aids and independent four-wheel steering, are baked into the deal. The 12Cilindri’s clean, stark design somehow toggles between retro and modern; and while vaguely polarising, one can’t ignore its magnetic road presence.
In terms of aesthetics, Ferrari describes the 12Cilindri as being “ready for space”; in many ways, a fantasy vehicle that transports users to another dimension is probably what the world needs right now.
The Numbers
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Power: 610kW
Torque: 678 Nm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
0-100 km/h: 2.95 seconds
Top speed: 340 km/h
Price: From $886,800
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High and Low
At Le Bernardin, Aldo Sohm oversees one of the most formidable cellars in fine dining. But on the beach, he’ll happily drink a cheap rosé. The world-class sommelier explains why taste—and humility—matter more than price.
Aldo Sohm is one of the most accomplished sommeliers in the world. The 54-year-old Austrian heads up an oenophile’s empire on New York City’s West 51st Street, where he both serves as wine director at Michelin three-star Le Bernardin and leads his namesake wine bar, just across the road from the fine-dining institution. (He spends his time literally running back and forth between the two.) So it may come as a surprise that this man, who sips prized varietals all day, admits to the joys of a glass of Whispering Angel, a ubiquitous rosé that retails at stateside Target stores for US$22.99 (around $30) a bottle.
The context here is important; the aptly named Sohm is quick to clarify that he’s not about to start serving Whispering Angel as one of the pairings with chef Eric Ripert’s US$530 (around $750) eight-course tasting menu. But during a trip to the Caribbean for the Cayman Cookout food festival, Sohm’s wife requested a glass of rosé on the beach. When he went to fetch it, she specified that she wanted a cheap drop, not the fancy stuff that he likely would have grabbed. “I felt kind of gobsmacked, right?”
Sohm says as we’re sitting in the tasting room at Aldo Sohm Wine Bar. “Now, rather than just criticising, I have to admit: I got out of the water, and I tried Whispering Angel, too. It was delicious.”
Unlikely as it may be, this humility is perhaps the key to Sohm’s success. His lack of self-seriousness makes him an anomaly in the oftentimes highfalutin world of fine wine. Rather than shaming you for your preferences, Sohm will indulge your desires. Maybe, as in the case of his wife, you’re going to be right. More likely than not, you’re going to be wrong. He won’t simply tell you that, though; he’ll use his encyclopedic knowledge of wine to subtly steer you in the right direction, allowing you to come to that conclusion on your own. “You just wake up from your dream—and mistake—and realise that, ‘Oh yeah, he’s right,’” says Ripert, who has worked with Sohm for almost two decades.
Sohm intended to move to New York for only 18 months. Growing up in Innsbruck, in the Austrian Alps, he wanted to be a helicopter pilot. Like many childhood fantasies, that didn’t come to fruition, and he settled on something more practical, becoming a teacher at a hospitality school. Having overcorrected—“That was way too boring for me,” he admits—he switched to the more public-facing side of the industry, getting a job as a restaurant server. It was then, when he was about 21, that Sohm fell in love with wine. (Prior to that, he was a self-proclaimed Bacardi and coke guy.)
After studying wine on his own time, he began his formal sommelier education in 1998. He rose quickly through the ranks and was named the best sommelier in Austria in 2002, a title he defended the following two years and reclaimed in 2006. Amid that stretch, he sojourned to New York in 2004 with the goal of improving his English to compete in international competitions. It paid off: four years later, he won the top prize from the World Sommelier Association. But more than the accolades, Sohm had discovered a career. By then, he had joined Le Bernardin after stints at Wallsé, Café Sabarsky and Blaue Gans—all Austrian restaurants in Manhattan.
“Back then we had a very strong French sommelier community, and they controlled everything,” he says. “And it was an uproar because how come an Austrian sommelier came to one of the most French restaurants?” He proved his bona fides, and in 2013 Ripert and Maguy Le Coze, the co-owners of Le Bernardin, approached him with the idea of partnering with them in a wine bar. It was Ripert who suggested putting the connoisseur’s name on it.
Aldo Sohm Wine Bar debuted the following year, with a team that Sohm handpicked. Sarah Thomas was part of that opening crew, after meeting Sohm during a fateful dinner at Le Bernardin with her cousins. When her relatives divulged to him that she was a sommelier in Pittsburgh, he proceeded to serve a blind tasting to Thomas. “He didn’t say what I got right or wrong. He didn’t care about that,” she tells me. “He just wanted to hear me talk about wine, I guess. So I did.”
When he offered her a job at the end of the meal, she laughed. Sohm didn’t. Thomas promptly packed up and moved to New York. After she spent about nine months at the wine bar, Sohm promoted her to Le Bernardin, where she worked for another five years. When she decided to start her own business—Kalamata’s Kitchen, which aims to teach kids about other cultures through food—Sohm was one of her earliest investors. He may have found full-time teaching to be too banal, but it’s still a huge part of what he does now, identifying the next generation of stars and giving them the guidance to grow into their own—whether that takes them into the upper echelons of fine dining or beyond the white tablecloths altogether.
Overseeing two teams, at two very different spaces, feeds Sohm’s prodigious ambition. He’s on a mission to completely reshape the world of wine, from what’s in your glass to the glass itself to what you enjoy it with—say, Champagne with eggs. Along with his day jobs, he has partnered with the Austrian brand Zalto to create his own wineglasses. “As a sommelier, you criticise only, but you make nothing,” Sohm says. So, he also now wears the winemaker hat, producing a Grüner Veltliner under the Sohm & Kracher label, a relatively accessible quaff that’s a collaboration with his fellow countryman Gerhard Kracher. And in 2019 he added author to his résumé, releasing Wine Simple, a “totally approachable guide”, as the book’s subtitle puts it. He followed that up with Wine Simple: Perfect Pairings, to help you pick the right bottle for the right meal and the right moment.
“In wine pairings, you have three possible combinations,” Sohm says. “There’s the perfect pairing. Then sometimes you have flavours just going along… it’s like humans—they talk, they interact, but they never connect. And then there’s conflict.” It’s that first one he’s after every time.
“Sohm fell in love with wine when he was about 21. Prior to that, he was a self-proclaimed Bacardi and coke guy.”
Outside of the restaurant, the wine bar and the cellar, Sohm is an avid cyclist who owns six bikes, a number he admits is excessive—especially in New York City. Riding is what he credits with keeping him healthy, when so much of his time is spent eating and drinking—and drinking some more.
Still, despite the 18-year career at one of the world’s best restaurants, despite the top honours from his peers, despite the wine and the wineglasses and the wine books, Sohm doesn’t consider himself successful. Every day, he’s trying to figure out how he can self-correct. “I like what I do, so I go back home that night, think of things which I can improve,” he says. “I get annoyed when I make a mistake, but I improve the next day.”
His quest for perfection may never be over, but Sohm does concede that he’s happy—its own type of success. Sometimes he finds that happiness while sipping a glass of 1980 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche, a bottle now so rare and coveted that he calls it “unattainable”. And sometimes, if to his chagrin, he finds it while drinking a mass-produced rosé on the beach.
Photography by Tori Latham
This article appears in the Autumn issue 2026 of Robb Report Australia New-Zealand. Click here to subscribe.
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Going For Gold
Available in a range of shades and intensities, this metallic tone is still a first-place choice.
Above: Awakening 02, Sebastien Durelli Designed exclusively for StudioTwentySeven, Sebastien Durelli’s Awakening 02 floor lamp is available in a limited run of eight examples. Handcrafted in Italy from cast patinaed bronze, the striking piece takes inspiration from the naturally sculpted landscapes of Iceland, specifically the country’s glacial lagoons. The organic boulder-esque shade is rugged and elemental—like an exploded rock wrenched apart by seismic activity—while the base is sleek and symmetrical, providing visual balance in a deep bronze finish. From around $65,300
Above: Orion, De La Espada When it comes to the Orion dining table, the draw is in the details. Designed by Anthony Guerrée for De La Espada, this piece features a central base crafted from a series of overlapping wood slats—a textured moment that creates visual equilibrium with its smooth, curved-brass counterpart. A bona fide visual anchor, the Orion can be paired with thin-framed chairs for a sneak-peek view or heftier seats that provide a surprising reveal when guests sit down to dinner. From around $20,870
Above: LS35A, Luca Stefano This showstopper by Milan-based designer Luca Stefano is all curves. A sexy lounge sofa, seen here upholstered in Pierre Frey mohair with canaletto walnut details, the LS35A is available for customisation, but we think that this mossy-gold hue is incredibly chic, evoking the muted desert tones popular during the ’60s and ’70s. Around $66,280, as shown
Above: Jazz, Tom Bensari Part of master woodworker Tom Bensari’s Manhattan collection for StudioTwentySeven, the Jazz bookcase is an ode to the designer’s love of music. With edges that curve like brass instruments and shelves that skip like riffs, this unit is meticulously hand-built in Poland from oak and olive wood, with custom veneered interiors according to the client’s preference and a glowing finish that takes on a golden tint in just the right light. Around $29,320
Above: Sleeper, Lucas Simões Last September at Christie’s in Los Angeles, Brazilian artist Lucas Simões unveiled his first furniture collection, Colendra. Presented in Lightness & Tension, an exhibition curated by roving gallerist Ulysses de Santi, Simões’s work is rooted in material exploration, as seen in the Sleeper chair, a curving steel form that suggests Brazilian midcentury modernism. A unique patina—which imparts the shimmery, rainbow-esque look of an oil slick—gives the piece a contemporary, artistic feel. Around $22,440
This article appears in the Autumn issue 2026 of Robb Report Australia New-Zealand. Click here to subscribe.
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