Jonathan Siboni, founder and CEO of Luxurynsight with Stanislas de Quercize, a giant of the luxury industry

Darius Sanai: I think it would be interesting to start with AI.

Stanislas de Quercize: Yes, AI is fabulous – it’s not 10 times better, not 100 times nor 1,000 times, but one million times better than our brain. As you know, Jonathan Siboni is a worldwide leader of data for the luxury industry, thanks to artificial intelligence. So it’s vital.

Jonathan Siboni: There’s a lot of bias around AI, and rightfully so as the world is changing quickly, but 99 per cent of what exists today in artificial intelligence is nothing new – it existed 20 or 30 years ago. What has changed is the ability of the interface: to be able to ask a simple question and get an answer that seems human. That has a deep impact on how consumers may interact with brands in the future: they may discuss a certain problem and feel like they’re talking to a human – that is important in luxury. If you were in a different sector, you wouldn’t mind talking to a computer so much, but for us, it’s just not possible.  

However, a lot of the things we are doing with Luxurynsight have been using AI for years: the technology has not changed tremendously. There’s something interesting about machines and learning – the machine can be as powerful as you want, but if you don’t know how to teach it, it’s useless. The question of how to teach AI for luxury comes back to the purpose you want it to serve. If it’s to improve the fine tuning of prices versus demand, then it’s super useful for brands.

In 2025, Stanislas de Quercize published Emparadiser la Vie – which roughly translates to Paradising Life –reflecting his philosophy on leadership and purpose

A brand is a connection with a human: we all know that when we buy from Dior, we don’t buy from Christian himself, we talk to a salesperson, who 99 per cent of the time is our only face of the brand. If these people do not treat us well, all that work is burned in 20 seconds. So, the idea that tomorrow there will be a computer version, instead of a salesperson, will not have an impact. Most people won’t notice because a good AI system automatises for as long as possible and hands back to a human if a problem occurs. For me, as long as we limit AI to being something supportive, I don’t think it will be brands’ sole way of engaging with humans. 

SdQ: We always need to improve luxury. We should question what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. AI is fundamental because it’s ultimately going to boost whatever you do, from manufacturing to selling.  

A watch wholesaler told me that one of his bestsellers was the preloved category. He added that the earth has been preloved over thousands of years: your apartment, your boutiques, your gardens, your castles. What you buy today, you can sell in six weeks, six months, six years. And I spoke to a brand that helps you buy and sell preloved jewellery. Preloved is human – it’s good for the planet and for everyone. But whatever we do, we need to always find ways to improve it, and AI will help that. 

DS: At the moment we have two interesting trends: we are in the middle of the greatest generational wealth transfer in the history of humanity, but the luxury consumer market shrank last year. How will these affect luxury?

Jonathan Siboni on a panel with the Financial Times as an expert in strategic analysis of luxury, fashion, and beauty data

JS: For me, the impact has already begun. If you look at the luxury revolution over the past 70 years, younger people have access to more wealth than before – partly from their parents. This young generation will transform the industry to something more experiential, emotional and authentic – more about being than having. That’s my feeling, and it’s begun already. Younger people also love fashion, they love trends. When it’s trendy, they overbuy, when it’s out of fashion, they don’t buy.

That’s a risk, but also an opportunity for luxury. With the second trend, the market shrunk a little, true, but it was overinflated because of Covid. People didn’t have many ways to spend money, so they overspent on luxury goods. Now they can travel again, they won’t spend as much as before, so there is a new normal.  

SdQ: First, always improve. Second, all clients are asking what you’re doing to save the planet – there’s a new law in the EU called CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), an obligation for large companies to declare their environmental impact. Third, we need to improve where we develop. Luxury started in France, then developed into Europe, the USA, the Middle East, and now Japan, China and India.

There is a lot of effort to improve there because India is the number one market. In 1999, China was two per cent of the luxury market, now it’s between 35 and 50 per cent. India is one per cent of the market now so I think it will increase because of this new generation. I also think it’s important to have a price pyramid. We need the combination of access price and expensive price.

JS: Something amazing started to appear in the past generation – new luxury brands. When I started, there was new commerce, but not new brands. Now in almost all the industries there are new brands with relatively young founders. It proves there’s an openness to look at modernity and not just heritage. If you look at the brands performing best in luxury, they are ones considered modern – even if they are old, they re-invent themselves.

Where I believe the rules of the game can change is in new categories. A few years ago, I was in Switzerland with luxury brands and we discussed the Apple Watch. We asked ourselves: will it change or kill the luxury watch market? If every day people put smartwatches on, they may still have a Patek, but keep it in the safe – that’s not how they engaged with a product before and it would limit the market to only a few brands with high investment power.

It’s also about safety and technology. People hesitate to put on an expensive watch because of safety questions. If you have an amazing watch but can’t wear it, plus you prefer to have an Apple Watch to see what’s happening on your phone, it brings into question the long-term existence of the categories. They will survive, but maybe as pieces of art – much as we have antique furniture now as art pieces.

Christian Louboutin and Jimmy Choo are amazing brands, but if tomorrow people don’t want cars any more and everybody takes a bike to work, they will not wear heels – you cannot wear heels on a bike. The evolution of people’s lives will show which categories are engaging with which brands, and some young brands may be better at this. 

SdQ: Well, in luxury, there are always new brands and new creativity: Cartier is nearly 200 years old, but Messika only 20. So there is old and new, and you can sell again what you created 100 years ago – Cartier preloved and vintage jewellery, for example. What I love in luxury is that there is cooperation instead of competition. I worked as a board member of Comité Colbert, which has 95 maisons working in concurrence, not in competition. There are more and more clients in the world, and we need to open in new countries, so there’s room. 

JS: Luxury grows by going into new territories: if you stay where you are, you die. Luxury started two generations ago – brands with a strong heritage selling to a few rich clients in a few rich countries. Over the past 40 years they started selling to the middle classes in new territories and making new products for them, such as perfume. They have reinvented constantly to survive change.  

Today, brands need huge reach to grow – and it’s hard to be visible and not dilute yourself too much. There are two philosophies. The French philosophy is that brands come from haute couture, like Hermès, and go to ready-to-wear and perfume and so on. Then you have the Italian model of brands that come from the middle, like Armani, and grow, which allows them to go to haute couture. Today, these two models are competitors, because all brands went both up and down. Now, all luxury brands go to jewellery – to all segments – but will that hold? It’s an open question.

Siboni speaking at Talents du Luxe 2025

SdQ: The President of Hermès said luxury is what you repair, what you restore. My own definition of luxury is what you transmit. Your luxury is the best way to express your love, your friendship, your fraternity; it’s also vital to create new emotions. I once decided to invite our 80 top clients every year to see the new high jewellery collection, so they made potential new friends from different countries who love jewellery.

When we created a dinner at the top of the Eiffel Tower to present a new collection, a young American, maybe 25 years old, raised a toast to being a fourth-generation buyer. That’s what we are looking for: to have loyalty and serve clients from generation to generation. It is important to share from country to country, with companies helping each other, and to have events that people can share and amplify and are wins for everyone. 

DS: In terms of technology, Luxurynsight is a data firm, so what is happening in terms of the way luxury will be monitored?

JS: Luxury brands are about creating something that may not be needed but that will be desired. Generally, that comes with a high intensity of intuition and creativity that helps these maisons become empires. However, the world is changing quickly and, for me, the only way to understand its opportunities is to be able to create better GPS. Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Karl Lagerfeld all ensured they had as much connection to the world around them as possible. 

Stanislas de Quercize, Bernadette Chirac and Princess Charlene attend the Van Cleef & Arpels Exhibition Launch at Musee Des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, France 2012

Technology helps us go further. We work with more than 60 maisons every day, bringing in AI to optimise their business. The reality of the market today is not just your shop, it’s social media, it’s the ability to tell brands, “You’re performing well in that category but your competitor is doing this.” We process three to five million images a day. I can tell you in Italy right now which colour or category is over-performing because of the number of people wearing them.

Zara was a revolution a few decades ago, because it brought new technology to look at the world around it and be extremely reactive. Today, even Zara is being disrupted by new players like AI. The question is not, “How can I be quicker than them?”, because you can’t. Just see what the world is doing, find new opportunities in what you do, and look at the world around you with a little more prediction capability – not to copy, but to create.  

Stanislas once told me, “We invented the brake to go quicker.” If I give you data, you can be more creative – you can measure the risk of going in that direction of creativity. If you have zero data, anything you do will be a risk. That’s the beauty of luxury: it’s not about using data in order not to take risks; it’s using it to evaluate well and be better at taking the risks. You need to stay ahead by running, not by waiting and saying, “I’ve been here for 200 years.”

SdQ: You know, Jonathan is a genius: he’s using data to help people make decisions. Whenever you are travelling you need some form of GPS to help you, and in giving you data he helps you with that.  

DS: You’ve anticipated my next question: what do each of you find most interesting about the other?

Prince Albert de Monaco, Actress Juliette Binoche and President of Cartier Stanislas de Quercize attend the ‘Cartier: Le Style et L’Histoire’ Exhibition Private Opening at Le Grand Palais in Paris, France 2013

JS: A better question would be, “what don’t I?”. I am most fascinated by two things. The first is his modernity: the ability to think of the future and not just the past, no matter how glorious – when you’ve been the CEO of Cartier and so on –  but to look at the future, its complexities and trends. The second is a true kindness. Stanislas has been waking up every day to help young people, to help new industry – pure, non-business-related kindness that people want to give back to him. Speak to anyone who has worked with Stanislas, even 30 years ago, we all owe him a lot. I’m in debt to his kindness and vision, and that is rare: when you’ve done a lot, sometimes you think you can take, just because you have power. Stanislas is all about giving. 

SdQ: As I mentioned, Jonathan is fabulous because what he is doing with data really is helping everybody. One hundred per cent of brands and maisons are able to make decisions, and it’s incarnating his prophecy through inspiring, joyful solutions. If you’re using Luxurynsight, it’s boosting you. 

JS: What luxury brands have done recently is be open to change. When you’re number one, you don’t have as much incentive; all you can do is to lose, so you tend to just stop. But this ability to say, “You’re doing something I don’t know about; show me what you do,” is new to a lot of luxury groups. I think with this vitality, luxury will continue to be the amazing sector it’s been for hundreds of years. 

This article was first published in the Winter 2026 print issue of LUX. Read this continuing series of LUX x Luxurynsight Dialogues monthly online at LUX magazine

luxurynsight.com 

Jonathan Siboni, founder and CEO of Luxurynsight, and Richard Collasse, former CEO of Chanel Japan

Richard Collasse, working with Karl Lagerfeld, built Chanel Japan into a game-changing luxury business in the 1980s and 90s. Here, the Japanese-speaking French polymath, who is a celebrity in his adopted country and as active as ever, speaks with Jonathan Siboni about the differing nature of luxury across different markets, how luxury is a dream, and how ADHD can help you stay at the top. Moderated by LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai

Darius Sanai: Richard, you entered Chanel Japan before the descente du temple, the democratisation of the luxury sector in the 1990s. What are your recollections of that time? Does it feel like a different industry?

Richard Collasse: Absolutely. Japan was a leader: it was not yet number one but became so a few years after I joined in fall 1985. And Japan is a country that has cycles: it goes down, then comes back. When I started, Japan could only rely on local customers; there was no interest among tourists, because the prices were higher than any other countries in the world. We were probably the first – the luxury industry in Japan, I mean – to work on what today we call ‘consumer care’. We were very advanced. So, it was a very different era.

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Jonathan Siboni: At that time with Chanel, it felt like we were at the beginning of an adventure that turned into empires in an incredibly short time. Japan was like learning from the best school because of the way the luxury market was developed in Japan – not just because Japan only had local customers, but because the local customers were Japanese. I think the industry grew from this attention to detail, quality and customer care, don’t you think?

Richard Collasse’s career has been rooted in Japan, Asia’s first prominent buyer of luxury goods and one of the biggest luxury markets in the world

RC: Absolutely. Customers, especially in Japan, have always been demanding. In the Chanel cosmetics business, the caps of the lipsticks were black lacquer: not easy to keep clean and always scratched after a couple of uses. We told the French there are machines in Japan to do the lacquer work, so they got one and began to understand what quality was really about. It was still very artisanal in Japan, about detail and quality, because we only had the Japanese for customers; we didn’t rely on other people to come and buy. 

JS: Some of the challenges that the Chinese market is facing today – for instance, people being bored of luxury goods – reminds me of Japan 25 years ago, when people were making a lot of money and spending it on luxury, and then there was, as you say, a cycle. But some brands such as Chanel continued to grow because they changed and reinvented themselves. Are there some lessons that can be applied from Japan 25 years ago? 

RC: I think the problem with China is slightly different to the one we had – our issue was not that people were fed up with the brand, but with our attitude. We were taking good care of loyal customers, but with new ones we were a little arrogant.  

Also, people didn’t have access to fashion shows and complained that, even if you were a good customer, they were behind closed doors. We had trunk shows going around Japan – small fitting rooms where ladies would try outfits and buy like crazy – but at the boutique, there were no products any more, because they had been sold during the trunk shows.

Jonathan Siboni speaking as founder and CEO of Luxurynsight, a luxury data and strategy company

So I stopped those. I decided, first, our boutiques should be our showplaces, and I made our boutiques very beautiful. Second, we told our salespeople that arrogance is not an attitude, and third, we did an open-air fashion show, where anybody who wanted to come could. In May 2000, Karl Lagerfeld came with 100 top models and showed the haute couture and the prêt-à-porter of the season. Our sales came back right away. We told our customers that Coco Chanel did not create fashion for an elite, quite the opposite: she created fashion for the women who wanted to work. So we did that and we had a new start. 

JS: Japan in the 1990s had also undergone economic difficulties but, ultimately, 30 years later it is completely different. I still believe, however, that the only brands that will do well are the ones that reinvent themselves to stay at the forefront of cultural exchange.

Read more: Binith Shah and Maria Sukkar on UMŌ’s ultimate luxury 

Speaking of cultural exchange, I’ve always wondered what it means for you, as a French person, to be more famous in Japan than at home, and to get to this level of mastery of a culture that is not yours. When you’re in Japan, do you feel at home?  

RC: Well, I was already fluent in Japanese, but people started to know me when I created Givenchy Japan, back in the late 70s. We did the 30th anniversary of Givenchy at the Japanese national television network, which is not allowed to make a brand statement. I convinced them that Givenchy was not a brand, but a part of French culture. And people started to say, who is this guy? But I have a strong power of persuasion. So when I started at Chanel, I already had that aura and it was easy for me to work with our people.

Richard Collasse with his team at Chanel Japan, where he worked from 1985 to 2023, most notably as CEO

We were inventing everything in Japan – the intellectual wealth of the company was that we had different people on the markets. Today, you have managers, who have graduated from the best fashion places, but we are losing the leaders. I’m not talking about Chanel specifically, but the industry as a whole. Because of exactly that: it has become an industry. When I started, it was still artisanal.  

JS: What I found fascinating in the golden days of luxury was that the best businesspeople I met were creative and business driven. They would never encroach on a creative director’s decisions, they would believe that everyone has their own role, but they were business creative. That’s something I find fascinating because as a creative you want to be creative, but you also have to reinstate the boundaries of your role.  

RC: Yes, I would never have been able to say to Karl [Lagerfeld], ‘We need this kind of jacket because this is a trend that’s just come in.’ That’s not the way it works. But he appreciated my creativity in a different way. With this fashion show back in 2000, nobody dared to go to Karl to tell him it was my idea, until a young PR lady went to see him and, against all odds Karl said “Let’s do it.”  It was out of the question to step into the creative territory of the products, because I didn’t have the know-how.  But creativity also meant expressing ourselves in the business side of things. And I started to write. That’s when Karl Lagerfeld started to appreciate that I was also a creative. 

DS: If the “you” from 40 years ago arrived in Japan now, would your skillset be relevant? Would you become president of Chanel Japan today or would they need someone else, given the way the industry has changed?

“I think my capacity to do different things almost at the same time is because I have passion” Richard Collasse

RC: I don’t know if I would be relevant; we live in a different time. Today, they need managers who can develop the business within budget and who are technicians. I was not a technician. I think the company decided that the managers of my generation were not needed any more.  

JS: One thing that strikes me is that luxury is not a business, it is an industry based on culture, marketing, exchange, as well as products. The product is a dream, in a way: I don’t think people buy a $10,000 bag because it holds things better. Somehow, business creativity was a bridge between these worlds of corporation and the real world.

Read more: Omega CEO Raynald Aeschlimann on the watch industry

That’s why I wonder – how can Richard find time to do what he does? When I was a student and emailed you, you would reply within 10 minutes, in the middle of the night. How did you manage to do so many things at the same time? Because there was Chanel, and you were also writing books. 

RC: I am what you would call today ADHD. I cannot stay still for one minute. I think my capacity to do different things almost at the same time is because I have passion. If you don’t have passion, you’re not going to do that. I have a power of concentration and I am also lucky that I don’t need much sleep – if I needed 10 hours I probably wouldn’t be able to do all these things at the same time.  

I’m 72 now and probably as busy as I was at Chanel. But for my 50 or so years in business I always had an assistant, and now I am discovering I don’t know how to book a train or manage my schedule! They allowed me to get rid of all these banal things, just so I could concentrate on the things that mattered to me.

Since first visiting Japan in 1971, Richard Collasse has become deeply involved in its culture, and has published novels in Japan as well as in his native France

DS: It’s so fascinating. Luxury is, of course, bigger now than it was in the 80s. But in what other ways is it different?

RC: It’s an industry that’s concentrated in the hands of very few people, which wasn’t the case in the 80s. LVMH was not that big, Kering didn’t exist and Cartier was like a different company to today. Now all these companies are becoming concentrated, and Chanel and Hermès are the only two remaining in the hands of the [original] owners. China has come to be a rich but, in my opinion, also a fragile business. 

Japan, Italy and France retain in common a love for craftsmanship and a passion for sharing it with the next generation. Look at what happened with the reopening of the Notre-Dame in Paris: this should be an eye-opener for young people. The craftsman puts his soul into the product. Far beyond making things well, they have a humility in front of what they are making. That love for the part of the soul they put into the product is unique to these countries. 

JS: I think Richard is right. In general, the Chinese value doing things quickly and changing them afterwards, the Japanese want things to be made perfectly. We focus on strategy; they focus on action. It’s often hard to look at each other because we don’t see their vision; just this constant changing. 

What advice would you give to young people to find things they can focus on and get passionate about? I find today, a lot of people are on the surface of things, because there is so much coming at us all the time.

After retiring from his nearly 40-year career at Chanel Japan in December 2023, Collasse spent a three-month break as a “temporary monk” at the Za Zen Shinju-An Buddhist hermitage in Kyoto

RC: I think being a visionary is the capacity to create the future – create it, not manage it. You will not have a vision if you are not creative, and this is exactly why I tell kids: try to develop the right side of your brain. What you learn at university is good but it’s not what will make you different, using the right side of the brain will. For many years people were saying they don’t need creatives in business; at a certain point, they were even considered to be dangerous. I remember someone saying it’s good to have you, Richard, but two of you would kill the company! Today it’s different. I think people have to come out of their comfort zone. I always tell my salespeople: get out of your sales point, go and see a different one, and then come back and look at it as a customer. This is part of creativity: to get out of yourself. Nobody teaches young people how to do this, or its benefit, including the pleasure in creating something that works.

Read more: Simon de Pury interviews Olafur Eliasson

DS: One last question: you mentioned, Richard, that Hermès and Chanel are the only big companies controlled by their owning families. How much of a difference does that make if you look at the brands?

RC: I knew we had a certain agility – everything came from my boss’s pocket, essentially. Chanel always does what it thinks is correct, not what other brands are doing. That will stay as long as the company stays in the hands of the owners. At the same time, they structure it differently from the past: they decided that a $20bn dollar company cannot be run weight-first, they also want management. But their vision is not changing, and they try to make sure that people understand this and execute it as it is. This made it easy to follow the vision: it has remained the same for the past 50 years, so you don’t have to worry about what is going on around you. That’s of course more complicated to do now when you’re an $80bn dollar company. But the vision is not changing, and that is very reassuring.

chanel.com/jp

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A display by Bengaluru-based artist Kaimurai at the Rajmahal School, which has an ancient temple onsite

The first ever Jodhpur Arts Week, running October 1st until the 7th, launches under the theme Hath Ro Hunar (or, ‘skill of the hand’). Curated by Tapiwa Matsinde and Sakhshi Mahajan, the week of exhibitions, installations, and panel discussions aims to foreground the city’s living crafts heritage amongst Jodhpur’s landmarks and public spaces – while also challenging the artistic hierarchies we see in the art market today

Invited artists such as Chila Kumari Burman, Gaspard Combes, Aku Zeliang, and the Raqs Media Collective, have worked alongside Jodhpur’s craftspeople using metalwork, weaving, embroidery, stone carving, and more, to create works that will be displayed across Jodhpur’s major sites. Rather than positioning contemporary artists above local makers, the festival frames artisans as co-authors, giving them visible credit in the creative process. This is a true collaboration: between artists, makers, and the city.

The work of Aphra Shemza displayed at Ghanta Ghar, the ancient clock tower at Jodhpur

The week features installations, exhibitions, workshops, panel discussions, and participatory projects scattered across Jodhpur’s heritage sites and public spaces. Public programmes include artist walk-throughs, community craft and food walks, and craft workshops such as weaving recycled fabrics, drypoint printmaking, ittar (traditional perfume) making, and musical instrument adaptation.

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The inaugural week saw a whirlwind of international art patrons, collectors and curators arriving, many of them flying in from Europe, West Asia and East Asia. Uber-curator and collector Amin Jaffer joined the attendees, as did LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai, who  attended in his capacity as Chair of the Advisors to The Public Arts Trust of India, which is chaired by Sana Rezwan, the driving force behind the Arts Week.

A textile display by Dhaqan Collective inside the Ghantar Ghar clocktower

Curators Tapiwa Matsinde and Sakhshi Mahajan have emphasised that Hath Ro Hunar is not just about making objects, but also about recognition, equity, and sustainability. They see the festival as a testing ground for new modes of cultural programming – one in which craft is not left on the sidelines – and which value process, local knowledge, and shared authorship.

The work of Gaspard Combes at Mandore Garden, near the birthplace of Mandodari (Ravana’s wife in the classic epic of the Ramayana)

Saruha Kilaru, an up-and-coming artist and recent graduate from MA Print at Royal College of Art, exhibiting at Shree Sumer School

Artist Laxmipriya Panigrahi, represented by Anant Art Gallery, exhibiting at the Shree Sumer School

jodhpurartsweek.com

Below the Grace Hotel is Stuvetta Moritz, where the menu is an ode to Swiss comfort – Engadiner cheese fondue, rösti and Zürcher Geschnetzeltes refined

We visit the coolest fondue spot in St Moritz – and enjoy some healthy options and a great vibe

Waltz into The Grace, the first new five star hotel in St Moritz since the time the dinosaurs ruled the Earth, or at least since they ruled the Cresta Run down the road, skip downstairs from the contemporary Alp-chic lobby and you enter the 1980s chalet-style Stuvetta Moritz.

In December 2024, Stüvetta Moritz was redesigned by the Berlin-based interior designer Fabian Freytag

A fondue restaurant with a modern twist in the shape of its cool dude-and-chick clientele, music and vibe, Stuvetta also has a useful cocktail list and a menu refreshing for its selection of lighter offerings as well as the usual full-nuclear Swiss fondue.

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We started with a poached egg from nearby Poschiavo with some delicious grated truffle, and a plate of local deer carpaccio with baby spinach, cranberry and truffle dressing.

Swiss traditions meet contemporary twists at Stuvetta Moritz, and fondue meets more than just bread in their signature Fish Fondue

For the main, you can choose a fish fondue – salmon, seabass, prawns, or kingfish – but we chose to share another healthy option: fondue of beef fillet and chicken breast.

Read more: Megu, Gstaad review

Both were beautifully lean, and we cooked them ourselves in bouillon served with a host of home-made sauces. A protein fondue with broth – a far cry from the gorgeous but less wellness-orientated cheese and bread tradition (which did look incredibly tempting).

Stuvetta Moritz offers a cosy meal alongside views of Lake St Moritz

Wines from the nearby Bündner Herrschaft, Switzerland’s best kept wine secret, complimented. The vibe, even in summer, was fun.

stuvetta-moritz.com

Tetsujiro Ogata at Megu, the head chef of the top Asian restaurant in Switzerland and home to the country’s largest sake collection

Haute cuisine in the high Alps: anyone passing through Gstaad this summer had the choice of not one but two culinary legends next to each other on one of the most scenic terraces in Europe, with a contemporary cool vibe unmatched anywhere else in the mountains

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The crispy green asparagus crumbed with kaki no tane and lemon. That’s what lingers in the memory from Megu. And that’s despite an array of superstar dishes that came afterwards, each at the pinnacle of the culinary experience.

‘Many Japanese restaurants in Europe have the quality of cuisine but not the vibe; Megu has both’

But the asparagus… First, there was the asparagus itself, which tasted as if it had been lovingly hand-reared in one of the impossibly green meadows rising up the mountainsides all around. It tasted of chlorophyll and crunch, the essence of what the colour green should taste of. Then the crunchy crumbs surrounding it, nutty, dry, peppery, toasty, and with a hint of tartness. A dish for all times.

We were sitting outside on the terrace at Megu, Bossa Nova singer warbling away in the background, the green and blue mountain dusk turning to night as smells of the meadows rose up all around.

The impossibly elegant lobby of The Alpina Gstaad

This is a chi-chi and boutique Japanese restaurant in the impossibly contemporary elegant Alpina Gstaad hotel above Gstaad, in Switzerland. The vibe is chilled, fun, and of the highest level.

Read more: Il Salviatino, Savoy Florence and Portrait Florence review

The menu continued with delicate, delicious maki and nigiri – with the scallop and seabass standouts – and climaxed with silver cod marinated in saikyo miso. A more delicate, lightly savoury, almost herbal alternative to its more common black cod sister, this was Japanese cuisine at its most refined and enchanting. Many Japanese restaurants in Europe have the quality of cuisine but not the vibe; Megu has both.

The Sant Ambroeus pop up restaurant at the Alpina Gstaad, offering the highest-level Milanese cuisine amongst the Alps

The Alpina Gstaad has always sought to redefine cuisine and the dining experience in the Alps since it opened just over a decade ago. On the next terrace to us at Megu was Sant Ambroeus, a pop up of the Milanese legend, which has its outposts already in New York, the Hamptons, Palm Beach and Aspen. Sant Ambroeus (Alps edition) was rocking. And within the space of around 50 metres on a magical terrace that seems to float above the Gstaad countryside, The Alpina created a kind of culinary heaven.

thealpinagstaad.ch/megu

Peter Gago, the chief winemaker at Penfolds, is a wine world legend

Peter Gago is chief winemaker at Penfolds, and creator of some of the world’s most desirable and innovative wines, including Grange and Grange La Chapelle. LUX contributor Lewis Chester is one of the world’s most renowned collectors and founder of the Golden Vines awards. Chester speaks with Gago about fine wine and collecting

Lewis Chester: During your time at Penfolds, how has the collector market for fine wines changed and what are the key takeaways you have learned from these changes over time? How have you incorporated these lessons into your business practices?

Peter Gago: Just like the world around us, the fine wine collector market has transformed dramatically over the past three-plus decades since I joined Penfolds – practically beyond recognition in many respects. Globalisation, the rise of digital platforms, and broader access to information have all played their part in reshaping how collectors engage with wine.

Lewis Chester, wine collector extraordinaire, is CEO of Liquid Icons and the founder of the Golden Vines Awards

And yet, amidst all that change, one thing has remained reassuringly constant: the passion. I’d go so far as to call it a force. That enduring enthusiasm is something I see and feel whenever I meet our customers, whether seasoned collectors or new loyalists. It’s a shared passion, and one we’re committed to nurturing.

That’s one of the driving reasons behind Penfolds Re-Corking Clinics. Held in cities across the world, they’re not only about preserving wine… they’re about preserving relationships, trust and a collective reverence for what great wine can be across time.

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LC: Are fine wine collectors mainly homogenous as a group, or do they differ by country, age and gender?

PG: I’ve had the privilege of travelling extensively, hosting tastings and meeting collectors across continents. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s an engagement with fine wine knows no borders. Today’s collectors are far from a homogeneous group. They span generations, cultures, and backgrounds. Women and men, young and old, seasoned collectors and curious newcomers… all united by a shared fascination with wine’s ability to transcend time and place.

A bottle of St Henri Shiraz, a powerful but balanced Penfolds wine popular among connoisseurs

Yes, there are regional differences. In some markets, collectors tend to focus more on provenance and heritage; in others, innovation and rarity drive interest. Some are drawn to verticals and vintages, while others are motivated by design, storytelling or investment potential. For some, wine collecting is deeply personal; for others, it’s social currency or a generational legacy. 

What’s particularly exciting is how the landscape continues to evolve. We’re seeing growing diversity – not just in who collects, but why they collect. And that shift is expanding the definition of what a fine wine collector looks like today. Emotive connectivity, it seems, is a constant – and that’s a very good thing.

Read more: Grand Hotel La Cloche Dijon and Ermitage de Corton reviews

LC: Within the collector group, do you see differences between those whose passion is around collecting, irrespective of the fact that they purchase more bottles than they could possibly drink, as opposed to those who are collecting for financial gain (in part or in whole)?

PG: Absolutely, we see distinct mindsets emerge.

Some collect out of sheer passion. They are drawn to the emotion, legacy and craftsmanship behind each release. For them, collecting is a deeply personal experience. It’s about curating a cellar that reflects taste, memory and time – not necessarily to be consumed, but to be cherished. These collectors often see the bottle as a piece of living art, imbued with meaning far beyond its contents.

Then there is a cohort that approaches collecting with a strategic lens, where provenance, rarity and market value play a central role. For them, wine represents an investment – a tangible asset grounded in heritage and trust.

Penfolds makes great wines in three continents, and is celebrated for its innovation as much as its traditions

Both mindsets are valid, and often, the lines blur. What unites them is a belief in the winery and culture, and a recognition that a bottle is never just a bottle. It’s a story, a legacy, and for some, a long game.

LC: The wines of France and Italy have traditionally been the key fine wines to be collected. How have you tried to bring Penfolds Grange into the mix during your tenure at the estate – where have you succeeded and where have you failed?

PG: Penfolds Grange and our broader suite of collectable wines – e.g. Special Bins, g3, g4, g5, Ampoule, V Chardonnay and Grange La Chapelle – have certainly captured the attention of collectors globally. During my tenure, we’ve worked to elevate their profile through a multi-layered approach.

Global programming has played a key role: grand tastings with Wine Spectator in the U.S., the Vin Passion event in Montreal, and an ongoing calendar of global masterclasses and product launches have all contributed to deeper appreciation and awareness. We’ve invested in building and maintaining media visibility and gatekeeper credibility, while also opening up new markets across China and Southeast Asia.

Where we’ve faced greater challenges is in shifting long-held perceptions in more traditional circles – where the wines of France and Italy have long dominated cellar space. The progress has been meaningful, yet not immediate. Some markets require more time and cultural nuance; collecting habits are deeply ingrained. That said, the seeds have been planted, and with the continued evolution and visibility of Penfolds via our global winemaking philosophy, we believe the future holds even more opportunity.

An almost priceless bottle of vintage 1953 Penfolds Grange (then known as Grange-Hermitage) at a Re-Corking Clinic

LC: Within the Australian fine wine market, do you see that it is a help or a hindrance that there are very few other fine wine estates that are deemed collectible at a global level? Do you see that changing anytime soon?

PG: The landscape is evolving. We’re seeing more Australian wineries gaining attention and acclaim internationally. Perception takes time to shift, especially when many of the world’s most collected wines come from estates with centuries of head-start. It’s often a function of scale, global distribution and long-term storytelling.

Read more: Angeliki Kim Perfetti Curates ‘Light’ at Hauser & Wirth St Moritz

Yet momentum is building. With increased focus on provenance, sustainability and alternative terroir(s), the appetite for diversity in collectors’ cellars is growing. We believe more Australian names will emerge as global collectables in the years ahead, and we welcome it… a stronger category benefits everyone.

LC: Tell us about the inception of the Penfolds Re-Corking Clinics and how receptivity for these clinics has changed over time.

The tools used at the Penfolds Re-Corking Clinic to recover and preserve the integrity of collectors’ vintage bottles

PG: Penfolds Re-Corking Clinics began 34 years ago, designed to offer the ultimate in wine after-sales service. From the outset, the thinking was simple: to stand behind our wines long after they’ve left the winery, and to offer collectors a service that protects and preserves the integrity of their cellared bottles.

It’s not just about putting new corks into old bottles. It’s about arresting the deterioration of compromised wines – leaking bottles and poor ullages – and in doing so, extending cellaring life and maintaining authenticity. The process also includes professional assessment by our winemaking team, often alongside respected partners like Christie’s, Sotheby’s, or Langton’s. Bottles deemed sound are then certified and recapsuled – a benefit that directly enhances provenance and secondary market value. Equally, bottles not certified help improve the market’s ‘gene pool’, preserving the integrity of what’s out there.

Over time, we’ve fine-tuned the Clinic process, from equipment to data capture, and the receptivity has only grown. What was once seen as a curiosity has become a global benchmark in collector care. We’ve held Clinics in Australia, the US, the UK, Asia and Europe, and the continued enthusiasm from collectors (some returning across decades) speaks volumes.

Old vintages of Penfolds Grange are among the most sought-after wines in the world for their complexity

As for whether others have followed, very few have replicated the concept at this scale or depth. In part, that’s due to the investment of time, cost, and expertise required… but also because few wineries have the volume of 30–70+ year-old wines circulating globally that warrant this kind of ongoing stewardship. For us, it’s a long-term commitment – educational, curatorial and relational. 

In many ways, Re-Corking Clinics have become a living expression of our brand philosophy. Coupled with Penfolds Rewards of Patience (Edition 9 soon to be released!), Re-Corking Clinics reinforce our role in guiding collectors – challenging, confirming and celebrating a wine’s journey through time.

Read more: L’Andana, Tuscany, The Fish, Cotswolds, and Hotel Harmonie, Vienna, review

LC: Can you explain to us what the style of Penfolds Grange is, how (if at all) it has changed over the decades, and why you think it’s the standout Australian success story for fine wine?

PG: Grange was, and remains, a wine apart. A singular expression of Australian winemaking, defying trend and convention. A blend that has outlived fad and fashion… one that will celebrate its 75th anniversary next year. A true enigma.

Recorking a bottle of Penfolds Grange, made from the shiraz (syrah) grape, is listed as a Heritage Icon of South Australia

While Grange has always remained faithful to its original blueprint, no two vintages have ever looked the same. Penfolds House Style provides the guardrails, but each release is shaped by season and intuition. With time, older vintages continue to transform and surprise… rewarding patience with a multi-decade revelational continuum.

Grange has never aspired to be the biggest, the strongest, nor the oakiest. Instead, its ambition has always been to achieve balance – layered, complex and complete. Has the wine changed over the decades? In ways, yes. But never in character. Rather, it has evolved through quiet refinement; fine-tuning, tweaking, adjusting. As we often say: it’s all about the one-percenters. If it isn’t broken…

LC: In terms of the future, what are the key factors that you and the estate are concerned about amongst the backdrop of declining alcohol consumption among the younger generations; geo-political issues; climate change; costs of production; etc.

PG: These are very much the defining issues of our time. And while the landscape is complex, we believe the answer lies in adaptation and vision.

Gago at work in a Re-Corking Clinic

Those who are willing to challenge the status quo, plan ahead and work with both purpose and agility will be best placed to navigate uncertainty and embrace what the future holds. At Penfolds, that means staying energetic and nimble – flexible in the vineyard and agile in the winery. It means continuing to invest in innovation and sustainability, in both viticulture and winemaking. It also means deepening our commitment to communication and education, ensuring that the next generation of wine lovers understands not just what’s in the bottle, but the story, craft and care behind it.

Read more: An interview with Bas Van Kranen

The future is always unknown. But with the right mindset, and a willingness to evolve, we’re confident in our ability to not just respond, but lead.

LC: The Golden Vines Awards are the preeminent awards for fine wine estates globally, voted by hundreds of fine wine professionals in over 100 countries, with the results independently verified by Deloitte. Penfolds has won the Golden Vines Best Producer in the Rest of the World three times (2021, 2022 and 2023) and is now an AllStar Producer in that category.

Lewis Chester presenting the Golden Vines Awards he founded

What do you think it will take to eventually be voted the Golden Vines World’s Best Fine Wine Producer? Are you hopeful that this might happen during your tenure at the estate?

PG: We live in hope. What an honour that would be!

To be recognised by such a global and esteemed cohort of fine wine professionals is already deeply meaningful. Winning Best Producer in the Rest of the World three years running and becoming an AllStar Producer is both humbling and energising. But of course, we continue to look forward. 

Ultimately, we believe that awareness of the quality, stature, diversity and cellarability of Penfolds wines – across decades and continents – will be key to advancing that recognition.

‘Winning Best Producer in the Rest of the World three years running and becoming an AllStar Producer is both humbling and energising’ – Peter Gago

Penfolds wines from California, Bordeaux, Champagne, and China have extended the conversation, offering a broader lens through which to understand our House Style philosophy and ambition. These wines may serve as an earlier introduction (or reintroduction) for many professionals across the 100+ countries represented in the Golden Vines voting pool.

So yes, I’m hopeful. But more importantly, we remain committed to excellence, regardless of accolades. If the recognition comes, it will be because we stayed true to our vision while continuing to push winestyle and quality boundaries.

penfolds.com

Grand Hotel La Cloche, considered the best hotel in Dijon, at night

Burgundy is at the top of the list for any discerning wine lover to visit, with its blend of history, scenery, rural charm, beautiful cities and some of the world’s greatest wines. Here we visit the best city hotel in Burgundy, and an authentic rural retreat amid the vines

Grand Hotel La Cloche Dijon review

It might seem strange to suggest that France, one of the most attractive destinations in the world for high-end tourism, is actually underrated. After all, who doesn’t rate Paris, the Cote d’Azur, or Mont Blanc. But France has an array of cities that for some reason have not quite reached the consciousness of the international luxury traveller.

The facade of the Grand Hotel La Cloche by MGallery

Dijon is an interesting case in point. On the one hand, it is the historic capital of Burgundy, and Burgundy is the most fashionable wine for ultra-high-net-worth collectors. So, the surrounding vineyard areas are not short of very wealthy visitors year-round.

Read more: An interview with Bas Van Kranen

But, unlike Beaune, Burgundy’s other wine city, Dijon is just outside the edge of the vineyard area, rather than at the centre of it (unlike Beaune, Dijon does not have its own vineyards) and perhaps not enough of the luxury wine tourists actually make time to visit the capital.

The dining salon in the style of Napoléon III cabaret

And that, we decided, as we strolled out of MGallery’s Grand Hotel La Cloche, was a great shame. The hotel is on the edge of Dijon’s old town, by a little park where families gather by the fountains and carousel; across the pedestrianised square, you walk under and arch and into an old town not just teeming with shops, churches and historical buildings, but a real sense of grandeur, as the home of the historical Dukes of Burgundy.

La Cloche is known to be the best hotel in town; from our room on the top floor, we looked out over the Cathedral and the city, over its rooftops to the long hillside of the Cites de Nuits, stretching along into the distance. Do a wine tour to Gevrey-Chambertin, come home to your room, and look back out to the vineyards you visited in the distance.

The Suite Montrachet in the Grand Hotel La Cloche Dijon

The room, in the rafters, was characterful and quiet, and the service at MGallery’s Grand Hotel La Cloche was of the top level; once when we found ourselves with no key, outside our door, one of the housekeepers we had gotten to know opened our door and then rushed downstairs for a duplicate key, without being asked.

Read more: Mont Cervin Palace and Beausite, Zermatt review

We had breakfast in the room each day because of the view, and everything was prepared to perfection: omelette with herbs, homemade pancakes and smoked salmon of far higher quality than served at most hotel breakfasts, along with fresh sourdough.

A gem of a hotel in a gem of a city.

grandhotellacloche.com

Ermitage de Corton, Burgundy review

There is nothing, we find, as attractive as sipping a glass of one of the world’s greatest wines in plain sight of the vineyard where it was grown, and then waking up in your hotel the next day with a view of the same vineyard. Particularly if that vineyard is Corton Charlemagne, the celebrated white wine that is spectacularly situated near the top of the hill of Corton, a distinctively shaped mini-mountain in the middle of the Burgundy region.

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The vineyard itself is something of an outlier: unlike the other great white Burgundies which are found south of Beaune around Puligny Montrachet and Meursault, Corton is located in the heart of a region otherwise dominated by celebrated red wines.

You can ponder all of this, and more, from the terrace of the Ermitage de Corton, situated amid fields and vineyards just outside the village of the same name at the base of the hill.

The Ermitage has the feel of an authentic country inn as you walk in, a restaurant on the right and a bar area on the left, with chairs and tables outside, all looking at the horizon of hills.

Arriving after a long journey, we didn’t have any appetite but enjoyed a couple of glasses of excellent white burgundy – not Corton Charlemagne as that would have been a little excessive as a welcome drink – in the bar along with some local artisan-sourced cold cuts.

Read more: The morning after the night before at St Moritz’s Dracula Club with Heinz E. Hunkeler

Our room was as memorable as it was delightful, spread over a bedroom area, a living area down some steps, and a huge terrace with views across the fields, away from the vineyards into the heart of rural France. It was utterly peaceful.

As well as the comfort, the location is pretty much unbeatable for anyone touring Burgundy. You are in the heart of the countryside: an easy cycle along the side roads to anywhere you like in wine paradise villages like Chambolle-Musigny or Morey St-Denis.

A word of advice: Burgundy is not like some of the more tourist-focused wine regions in the world where you can just turn up at a good winery and enjoy tasting. You need to make the effort to make your appointment well beforehand and plan your itinerary accordingly, much more so with the most celebrated names which are unlikely to welcome you anyway unless you have insider contacts.

Whoever you visit, make sure you come back for a little dinner with a view of the Hill of Corton at the Ermitage.

ermitagecorton.com

An installation view of Light, curated by Angeliki Kim Perfetti, showing until 30 August at Hauser & Wirth St. Moritz

This summer, Hauser & Wirth St. Moritz presents Light, a luminous group exhibition curated by Angeliki Kim Perfetti, founder of DYNAMISK and LUX Contributing Editor. Inspired by her upbringing in Swedish Lapland, The glamorous, dynamic Perfetti – alongside the gallery’s luminescent Director Giorgia von Albertini – brings together works by Larry Bell, Frank Bowling, Martin Creed, Jenny Holzer, and Pipilotti Rist. The show demonstrates more evidence that St Moritz is cementing its place as one of Europe’s art hubs – unsurprising given the number of collectors in residence – and that summer in the Engadine is becoming as attractive as winter.

Curator Angeliki Kim-Perfetti at the opening of her exhibition Light

“When I was asked to curate an exhibition for Hauser & Wirth in St Moritz I returned to my personal past and my upbringing in the very North of the Swedish Lapland. Where everyday life is contrasted between the extreme light in summer and the long dark winters, with an occasional visit of the Northern light painting the sky in the most beautiful colours. Finding myself in the mountain village of St Moritz not only made me recall home, but also inspired me to reflect upon why I am so mesmerised by light.”

– Angeliki Kim Perfetti, curator of Light at Hauser & Wirth St Moritz

Jenny Holzer’s Live Music (2024) on display in the exhibition Light. Image courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth

A 2025 video installation by Pipilotti Rist titled Tine Refills the Oil. Image courtesy of the artist, Hauser & Wirth, and Luhring Augustine

Martin Ring’s 2015 DON’T WORRY in multicolour neon. Image courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth

Hauser & Wirth is in the heart of St Moritz opposite the Badrutt’s Palace Hotel

Larry Bell’s Open Box SS, made of sand and zinc laminated glass coated with stainless steel and titanium. Image courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth

Frank Bowling’s 1977 Untitled, made of acrylic and collage on canvas. Image courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth

The show will be on view at Hauser & Wirth St Moritz from 12 July to 30 August 2025