Inside Melbourne’s most secret Grand Prix week dinner – see who made the Moet & Chandon list

Champagne corks popped and vintage bubbles flowed as VIP guests enjoyed a black tie dinner at a private trophy home in Toorak to celebrate the Grand Prix. See who made the guest list.

Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Dan Carter, Sibylle Scherer and David Coulthard at the Moët & Chandon dinner in Toorak on Thursday. Picture: Supplied

Champagne corks popped and vintage bubbles flowed as the new partnership between Moet & Chandon and F1 was toasted at a candlelit black tie dinner at a private trophy home in the heart of Toorak.

The dinner, the ultimate in exclusive and elegant hosting during Australian Grand Prix week, took place on Thursday evening with a convoy of chauffeured cars taking guests through the verdant streets of the up-market suburb to their destination.

Welcomed on arrival by Moët & Chandon CEO & President Sibylle Scherer, guests including Australian GP boss Travis Auld, Australian GP chairman Martin Pakula, Edwina McCann, former F1 world champions Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, F1 favourite David Coulthard, models Abby Lee, Jessica Gomes, Jarrod Scott and Montana Cox, and US actor Channing Tatum’s girlfriend, Inga Williams, nibbled on a canape selection of Abrolhos island scallops with seaweed and caviar, Brook trout roe with macadamia and finger lime and Wagu with oyster cream and toasted rice beside the indoor pool before moving to two long tables in the garden.

Inka Williams at the Moët & Chandon dinner in Toorak. Picture: Supplied

Model Jarrod Scott was also among the guests. Picture: Supplied

Abbey Lee also attended the exlusive dinner. Picture: Supplied

For once Melbourne’s fickle weather behaved, making for a perfect lawn dinner.

The likes of Chris Lucas, Daniel and Shirin Pulitano, Bernadette Fahey and Jordan Sukkar,

Holly Titheridge and Shaun Lyle, Elliot Garnaut, Jesse Murphy, Bruce and Chyka Keebaugh, Andrew Rettig and Amanda Briskin, and Ashley Powell, managing director of Moët Hennessy Australia & New Zealand, chatted as the two entrees – Paspaley pearl meat, cucumber, asparagus and beluga caviar paired with Moet & Chandon Grand Vintage 2016 and rose veal with black marron, Salsify, pine mushrooms and albufera sauce paired with Moet & Chandon Grand Vintage Rose 2016 – arrived, followed by a main course of toothfish with smoked squid, sunchoke, hen sauce and agretti paired with Moet & Chandon Grand Vintage 2013.

Sibylle Scherer said of the champagne’s return to F1: “We missed Formula 1 and racing so much for the last 30 years and hence we are so excited to be finally back.

“Tonight I want to raise our glasses to the enduring spirit of competition, the pursuit of excellence but for us at Moet & Chandon, most important is our shared joy of celebration.”