FLEUR DE MIRAVAL: Rosé Champagne Ascends to the Peak of Perfection

Fleur_de_Miraval Photo Officielle Brad Pitt

The Jolie-Pitt and Perrin families, who made Miraval a global success story, are proud to announce their bold, new project: FLEUR DE MIRAVAL, the only Champagne house exclusively devoted to Rosé Champagne. On October 15, FLEUR DE MIRAVAL will launch a truly exceptional Rosé Champagne. Brad Pitt has been totally committed to creating this Champagne house, which is not some new “celebrity wine,” but an authentic project of wine growers combining their expertise, skills and passion. This new, family-run adventure is, now, more than ever, focused on excellence and inspired by the legend of Countess Fleur de Miraval*.

The idea of FLEUR DE MIRAVAL sprang from the association of the two families, who had already united the wine world with that of the arts through the introduction of Miraval Côtes de Provence Rosé in 2012, and a third family with roots in Champagne for six generations: the Péters family. The Péters family, established in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, have been making Champagne from their own grapes since 1919. Today Rodolphe Péters runs the 50 acre estate, 40 of which are Grand Cru vineyards mainly around Le Mesnil-sur-Oger in the Côte des Blancs. Rodolphe’s Champagne is sold in some 70 countries around the world and delight all lovers of great Blanc de Blancs Champagnes. Rodolphe has long been a fan of the wines of Château de Beaucastel and is close to the Perrin family.

This project is, first and foremost, an artistic venture, because producing fine wines is a form of artistic creation,” explains Famille Perrin. “We have known Rodolphe Péters for many, many years and, like him, we are passionate about the great wines of the world. Yet, each time we’ve gotten together to taste fine, vintage Rosé Champagnes, we’ve come to the same conclusion: We love the aromas that these great Champagnes develop with age, especially when they lean towards Chardonnay, but we often also find heavy aromatic notes from the red wine, which create an overall conflict with the harmony and nobility. This is why we wanted to create a different kind of Rosé Champagne that blended mature Chardonnay grapes with young Pinot Noir grapes.”

This blend of Chardonnay grapes of different ages makes up 75% of the final FLEUR DE MIRAVAL blend. The remaining 25% is from young Pinot Noir grapes, which gives the wine its subtle, pink color. Its tangy notes of red currant and red raspberry energize the delicate minerality, salinity and iodized expression of the Chardonnay grapes. The wine is then aged on lees in the dark cellars in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger for three years before being released. Because Champagne is particularly sensitive to ultraviolet rays and sunlight, which can easily damage the wine, each Fleur de Miraval bottle is lacquered so that the wine is never exposed to light until the day the bottle is opened. “Fleur de Miraval Rosé is the culmination of five years of work, research and tasting done in the utmost secrecy“, Rodolphe Péters adds. “It is also a very exclusive wine as only 20000 bottles were produced for this first edition.”

*Legend has it that Countess Fleur de Miraval drank only Rosé Champagne because she was born in Provence. She particularly liked the grilled hazelnut aromas that develop as prestigious Chardonnay wines age, and the vibrant, fragrant fruitiness of the Pinot Noir wines obtained by using the saignée method and blended while still young to preserve their freshness.