Brad Pitt is making a case to continue rosé season on through the winter months with the announcement of his new rosé Champagne.
Dubbed Fleur du Miraval, the Champagne is an extension of Pitt’s popular rosé brand Miraval. (Despite the celebrity backing, Miraval is truly a splendid iteration of Provence rosé, with a curving bottle, an orange-rose hue and a bright acidity of strawberry and lemon.)
The exclusive bottle will hit shelves in the U.S. market on October 15, 2020.
“For me," Pitt explained to People Magazine. "Champagne conjures up feelings of celebration, quality, prestige, and luxury. But rosé Champagne is still relatively unknown. Backed by our success with Miraval in Provence, I wanted us to try to create the defining brand of rosé Champagne, focusing all our efforts on just this one color."
Miraval was born almost a decade ago, when Pitt and Jolie met the Perrins family, an old-school wine making family who cut their teeth in the houses of Châteauneuf-du-Pape before moving their practice to Provence.
The couple fell in love with the Provencal lifestyle, and purchased the Miraval estate for $31 million in 2011 (the Perrins own 50%).
Two years later the Jolie-Pitt tied the knot on the sprawling 1,200 vineyard estate and two years after that, they separated. Despite many rumors crying about the couple’s potential sale of the estate, the duo dubbed Miraval “an investment for the family and the children.” It is still partly owned by both Jolie and Pitt. Pitt reportedly can be spotted working the fields.
Since the brand’s launch, Jolie and Pitt, with the help of the Perrins have conjured Miraval into one of the world’s most popular rose brands.
While breezy Provencal rosé has becoming their calling card, Miraval brought in outside help to produce the Champagne, a new style for the house. In came the Péters family, a famed family of sixth-generation Champagne makers who tend Le Mesnil-sur-Oger in Cotes de Blanc.
Fleur de Miraval will contain a blend of Chardonnay (75) and Pinot Noir (25%) made in the saignée method of Champagne production. It’s five years in the making, with the liquid aging three years on lees in the Peters caves.
“Fleur de Miraval Rosé is the culmination of five years of work, research, and tasting done in the utmost secrecy,” Rodolphe Péters, head of Pierre Péters Champagne said in the press release.
The Champagne’s first run will have just 20,000 bottles and a reported SRP of $390. The liquid is bottled in a black lacquered Champagne bottle with pink rosé coffret packaging.
While Pitt was one of the first celebrity producers to launch a big-name backed wine (or spirit), it’s leading a wave of celebrity booze projects. Now Ryan Reynolds helms Aviation Gin, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson produces tequila. Post Malone makes rose and Cameron Diaz has a wine brand. In the Champagne market, JAY-Z has Ace of Spades and 50 Cent, Chemin du Roi, respectively.
The celebrity spirits market has hit a fever pitch. Diageo PLC purchased George Clooney’s Casamigos for $1 million in 2017, and Ryan Reynolds’ Aviation Gin landed at Diageo at a price tag of $610 million.
But Pitt promises this isn’t another celebrity project. “Above all, it's a wonderful, exceptional estate that I fell in love with, and that I continue to invest in to make it one of the finest estates in Provence,” Pitt said in an interview with People Magazine. “For the wine, I partnered with the Perrin family. They have been winemakers for five generations. Together, we're in it for the long term. It’s not just a passing trend."
This article originally appeared on Forbes.
