Page 2: Suits star shows his style in City of Sails

Gabriel Macht breezes through. Photo / Norrie Montgomery

If you've noticed a step change in the sartorial style of the legal types around Auckland, we have one Gabriel Macht, aka Harvey Specter, to thank. The "best goddamn closer in town" from TV show Suits visited the city on a whirlwind trip last week, stopping in at Working Style to meet a group of lucky Lightbox fans that had won the chance to meet the actor. Macht lived up to his character's sartorial reputation, wearing a perfectly tailored suit from Working Style. But unlike the tough-talking serious character of Harvey Specter, Macht was jovial and relaxed, cracking jokes and posing for photos with fans. Online TV streaming service Lightbox was responsible for bringing the star to New Zealand and it seems this has paid off. Lightbox says subscriber numbers have spiked since it was announced Macht was visiting. Working Style too has benefited from the star's visit, with Macht spotted wearing Working Style outfits on most of the days he was here. The menswear store said the team had been working overtime to ensure his outfits - including suits, jackets, trousers and shirts - all fit perfectly, staying up to almost midnight tailoring some of the garments so they were ready for the star's first interviews the next morning. But this may have paid off, with rumours that Macht was looking at buying more Working Style suits, after he was spotted browsing some of the clothing and talking to the manager.

Babich Wines celebrated its 100th birthday in style. Photo / Amos Chapple

Celebrating the centenary

New Zealand winery Babich Wines celebrated its 100th birthday in style last week with Deputy Prime Minister Bill English meeting with the Babich family at the winery's Henderson headquarters to celebrate. Founded in 1916, the winery has vineyards in Marlborough and Hawkes Bay and was originally purchased in 1911 as regenerating bush by founder Josip Babich along with his four older brothers. Since then, the 29 hectare property and growing winery has remained in the family with Josip's son Joe now the managing director.

The Babich family are regarded as leaders in the wine industry with Babich saying the family had experienced a lot in the winery's hundred-year history.

"We have experienced the ups and downs over time, survived two world wars, the great economic depression and flu epidemics," Babich said. "We have also experienced exciting growth and have witnessed and played our part in the blossoming of the New Zealand wine industry onto the world stage. We have been part of the evolution of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc that took the world by storm nearly 30 years ago," he said.

MasterChef - Moet style

Fancy yourself a master chef? Love Moet? Look no further for your dream job, as the Champagne brand opens its doors in the hunt for its new Maison executive chef. The role involves creating dishes to match the Champagne - and in some of the most incredible locations in the world including the Trianon on the Avenue de Champagne and the Chateau de Saran amongst the Maison's vineyards.

All you have to do is impress some of the top chefs in the world - no pressure. The audition has been developed into a full-scale competition with candidates invited to send in applications, as well as a few recipe suggestions to match the champagne, before semi-finalists are picked to compete for one of two finalist spots. The winner of the global competition will be picked on July 8 and aside from travelling the world and creating amazing dishes, the job is sure to provide a lot of free Champagne. Not a bad career move really.

Belinda Gorman.

Howdy partner

Microsoft New Zealand announced local winners of the ninth annual Partner Awards at a black tie event in Auckland last Thursday.

The awards recognise excellence in the IT sector from those companies that integrate Microsoft solutions into their products and services.

This year, Microsoft recognised partners in 22 categories that celebrate core partner competencies.

Winning companies included the likes of Datacom, Intergen, Fujitsu and Revera.

Brent Kendrick, director of Small and Midmarket Solutions, said "Cloud computing continued to dominate entries this year as more businesses look to their IT partners to transform their business with cloud-based services".

Barrie Sheers.

Microsoft NZ's citizenship lead, Belinda Gorman, and the company's NZ managing director, Barrie Sheers, were at the function.

On the night, $26,000 was also raised for STAND Children's Services in a live charity auction - with one of the highlights of the night being a further $1000 donated to the charity when the auctioneer agreed to do the rest of the auction shirtless.

Let us know

This is not a gossip column but ... The weekly Page 2 is a chance to share stories and pictures about business personalities and events so please drop us a line at page2@nzherald.co.nz