If you’re still looking for a special gift for your loved one this Valentine’s Day, the upcoming wines and spirits auction at the Hôtel des Ventes de Monte-Carlo could be the perfect solution.
From 10am on Tuesday 14th February, the Hôtel des Ventes de Monte-Carlo – or the Monte-Carlo Auction House – will be hosting its annual Valentine’s Day auction so whether you’re after a bottle to share with your better half tomorrow night or a case of something rare to commemorate the occasion and store away for another day, there’s almost certainly going to be a label among the 304 lots to tempt you.
Lovers of Italian wine will delight to see the likes of vintage Barolo and Brunello di Montalcino for very pocket-friendly prices as well as the multi-bottle offerings, such as 12 Dolcetto di Neive that are estimated to go for between €180 and €240.
French favourites like Châteauneuf-du-Pape are listed too, like the lot of five Beaucastel 2014, which is expected to sell for €300 to €350.
Champagne will be the choice of many on Tuesday night so why not try your hand at bidding for the very special 18-litre Moët & Chandon featuring a photograph of Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene, tagged up for between €800 and €1,000.
Quality spirits are well-represented too, from a 1900 Sempé Armagnac (€500 to €600) and The Macallan 1945 Pure Highland Malt (€12,000 to €15,000).
Bids are being taken in person and by telephone, and eager bidders can preview the full catalogue by clicking here for the Hôtel des Ventes de Monte-Carlo website.
One was a hotspot in the 1960s and the other has been Monaco’s best-kept secret since 1952, but both Maona and Club La Vigie have been cleverly reimagined for the Principality’s 2023 summer season. Here’s what to expect.
MAONA
Maona, the portmanteau of two of Monaco’s most famous denizens, Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis, harks back to the heady days of Monaco in the 1960s and 1970s when the Principality’s reputation as the most glamourous place on Earth was at its zenith. Famous residents Onassis, the wildly wealthy Greek shipping magnate, and his long-time mistress, Callas, the famed opera singer, opened the joint venture in 1962: Ma for Maria and Ona for Onassis. Carefree and irreverent, the nightclub embodied the times.
Now, in 2023, near the very site of the original and overlooking the Mediterranean, a modern version of the club is about to hit the scene in the form of a Monaco first: a cabaret under the stars.
Enjoy cabaret under the stars this summer at Maona. Photo by SBM
The food will be a collection of past and present, featuring family recipes culled from SBM staffers, their parents and even their grandparents. Dishes include favourites such as gambas with pastis, tagliatelle with capon and marjoram-lemon sauce and classic summery desserts like peach melba.
The cocktail menu is inspired with vintage vermouths, Monaco orange-infused drinks and other interesting combinations.
Entertainment will run from 7pm to 2am with a pianist, a DJ and a diva taking it in turns to amuse and delight the crowds. A VIP space will be available, seating 12 guests, and designed with a nod to Josephine Baker.
CLUB LA VIGIE
From 2nd June, La Pointe de la Vigie will be turned into a private club every day from noon to 8pm.
In an unspoilt natural setting on the seafront, Club La Vigie will be “the” place for festive afternoons and sunsets. The space will combine, say SBM, “a beach club feel at the water’s edge with Mediterranean food, creative cocktails and cutting-edge musical programming”.
It will also feature the best-kept secret at Monte-Carlo Beach since 1952: five bungalows tucked away among the pines, rechristened ‘Love Nests’ for those who like a bit of privacy. Access will be by boat, with a shuttle offering easy access to Maona to continue the evening in style.
Club La Vigie to become a private club with access by boat. Photo by SBM
As part of its deepening efforts to tackle money laundering and the financing of terrorism within its borders, Monaco has embarked on a year-long webinar programme for willing businesses and financial institutions in the Principality.
Following the analysis and subsequent publishing of a report by Moneyval into Monaco’s handle on money laundering and the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT-P), the Monegasque government has launched a national information campaign in the form of webinars – delivered for the most part in English – to improve the understanding of the related issues and its expectations amongst relevant stakeholders in the Principality.
Every Tuesday from 10am to 11am, a webinar will be held on a range of subjects connected to its AML/CFT-P efforts. These will be hosted by a number of Monegasque authorities and complemented by input from international experts. The target audience of the webinars are alternatively financial institutions (FIs) such as banks, management companies, insurance brokers and money handlers, and non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs).
“We stress the importance of a very active participation of reporting entities in these seminars,” says a representative for the SICCFIN, Monaco’s Service d’Information et de Contrôle sur les Circuits Financiers. “A certificate will be issued to reporting entities that will have participated in all 23 sessions scheduled between February and December 2023.”
Although the campaign has already begun, with the first being held on 7th February, the links to each webinar and the information they contain can be accessed retrospectively via the SICCFIN website. The programme, which can be found here, will continue until the end of 2023.
In other Moneyval-related news, the newly created financial crime task force set-up by the government in the wake of Moneyval’s assessment is set to hold its first meeting on 16th February. Monaco Life understands that the outcome of the meeting will be the adoption of a national strategy against money laundering and financing of terrorism as well as a concrete action plan to tackle the necessary changes Monaco must make if it is to fully align itself with the high standards set by Moneyval.
Influenza is raging in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region and authorities are urging the use of flu jabs for children aged two to 17 to help reduce spread.
The flu is back with a vengeance this year, and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region is in the top most affected areas in France. The latest figures put out on 8th February by Public Health France show an incidence rate of 156 per 100,000 people nationally, a 38% rise over the previous week. Hospital admissions are up too, with 4,604 patients arriving at emergency rooms over the course of a week: a 40% rise. Two to-five-year-olds are the age group most affected this season, accounting for 23% of emergency room visits.
Locally, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) region, Public Health France has declared a flu epidemic, spurring the French High Authority for Health (HAS) to recommend the use of flu jabs for children aged two to 17 without comorbidities via one of the five vaccines available or, the preferred method, a dose administered by nasal spray. The jab will be reimbursed, so no financial burden will be incurred by parents.
Studies have shown that children have tolerated the jabs well and their efficacy sits at around 78% for live attenuated vaccines and 64% for inactivated vaccines.
Data for the flu vaccines given to children in France, namely Fluarix Tetra, Vaxigrip Tetra, Influvac Tetra, Flucelvax and Fluenz Tetra, have European and global data confirming the safety of these vaccines in children. Fluenz Tetra intranasal vaccine is also recommended for safety as well as ease of use.
With this mandate, France joins several other countries battling the flu who have been immunising their children, such as the UK, Spain and Austria.
In this, its 50th anniversary year, the Monaco Ambassador’s Club is hitting top gear with bold plans to open a clubhouse, partner with other associations, support sustainable solutions, and go global.
When Christian Moore took over as President of the Monaco Ambassadors Club (MAC) four years ago, Covid-19 put a screaming halt to all the exciting plans he and the board of directors had to revitalise one of the Principality’s oldest social clubs.
“Those two years were a very difficult time because, as a social club, we couldn’t really do anything social,” Christian Moore tells Monaco Life. “But it was always my plan to expand on what the previous president Alexander Moghadam had done, which was to bring back to life the Monaco Ambassadors Club, Princess Grace’s personal project with Prince Rainier to make members of the community emissaries for the message of Monaco.”
The MAC Board of Directors at the Christmas Gala 2022. Photo credit: Yvan Grubski
Monaco Ambassadors Club signature events
Nonetheless, 2022 showed what the Monaco Ambassadors Club was capable of, and members were treated to a series of exceptional social events, from the signature summer party and the annual Goodwill Ambassador Gala honouring John Christodoulou to the always elegant Christmas Gala. As Honorary President, Prince Albert II supported it all.
“As we are the Prince’s club, the Sovereign attends these events, so we give that access and understanding of Monaco a little bit more than perhaps other social clubs here,” adds Moore.
This year, the Monaco Ambassadors Club hits full steam. In July, the MAC will unveil its first ever clubhouse, in what was formerly the Star Deck of the Stars n’ Bars restaurant on Quai Antoine 1er, which itself is undergoing a rebirth.
“One of the club’s challenges that was quickly identified was that we needed a place where we could deliver the message to existing members and attract more members to have a greater impact on the community,” says Luc Leleux, Treasurer and member of the MAC Board of Directors. “So, one of the immediate targets was to have a clubhouse, which will become the base where members will meet, exchange, identify topics, and find sustainable solutions which are good for the community and can be delivered outside of the community of the Principality.”
MAC Honorary President Prince Albert with MAC President Christian Moore (left). Photo credit: Yvan Grubski
Taking the Monaco Ambassadors Club global
The next part of the strategy is uniting the Monaco Ambassadors Club with similar clubs throughout the world, offering reciprocal memberships, “so we can grow our base, but at the same time open the conversation to wider subjects”, says Moore.
The club will also begin organising events outside of the Principality to build personal and business connections, like the upcoming trip to Cyprus at the end of March, where members will have an opportunity to meet with the future president of Cyprus, engage in cultural visits, experience the ‘Cyprus Has Talent’ TV show and more.
“Our aim is to get a better understanding of how other countries can tie into Monaco on many levels, bringing forward those ventures that the Principality emulates on the environmental level,” says Christian Moore, adding that there has never been a better time to join the Monaco Ambassadors Club.
Membership includes single, couple or benefactor membership, which comes with a host of benefits, including event tickets for clients and partner marketing opportunities.
For more information, visit the website: www.mac.mc.
Photo above: Prince Albert II of Monaco surrounded by Christian Moore (far left), John Christodoulou, and Mike Powers during the the 2022 Goodwill Ambassador Award. Credit: Yvan Grubski
Monaco streamlines customs service for imports and exports
Monaco has changed the way local companies handle imports and exports, making the process easier and allowing an administrative operation that previously forced applicants to go to Nice to take care of business closer to home.
What a difference a few words make. By simply changing the name of Monaco’s Customs Office from an inspection centre to a main office, the act of import and export business has been simplified in the Principality.
The Monaco Economic Board organised a conference on 2nd February at the Novotel to explain to interested parties how the new bureau will operate.
Since October, Monaco’s office was considered a place where businesses needing customs approvals and advice stopped into before being sent to Nice to take care of the actual administrative procedures necessary for imports and exports.
This was time-consuming and inconvenient, but as Monaco is considered part of France’s customs territory, and thus part of the European Union’s, it was a necessary evil. Now, the Monaco office has been allotted the same status as Nice, giving the region the only one ‘in France’ to have two main offices.
“We now give access to all services, but also to remote customs clearance procedures which can be entrusted to Monegasque logistics professionals,” said Muriel Deya, Head of the Monaco Office.
This new set-up also allows the possibility of having storage areas approved locally, which avoids companies being forced to transit goods through specific customs clearance areas. In addition, the Monaco Office’s knowledge of local players will help make checks easier, in particular avoiding certain random checks that have become unnecessary.
Another feature of the new system allows for the idea of a ‘referent’ customs office, meaning companies can use the Monaco branch for all customs formalities upon leaving France.
The conference, attended by about a hundred Monegasque professionals, was also an opportunity to present the many changes to come in the field of customs clearance as well as introduce the tools and regulations of which are constantly evolving.
Roger Combe, the Regional Director of Nice Customs spoke about the changes, explaining that “Monaco is an important economic platform that did not have the appropriate customs structure to provide the best support to the economic actors of import [and] export.”
With the changing of the name of the Monaco bureau, it now does.
