Talk about being late to the party. It was recently reported that Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex and aspiring home-goods entrepreneur, is putting production of her American Riviera Orchard–branded jams and farm-to-bowl dog biscuits on hold to concentrate on something else: rosé wine.
Not just drinking it. Although she’s done that. She enjoyed a few glasses of it during her first date with Prince Harry, at Soho House 76 Dean Street, in London, back in 2016.
Once upon a time, for someone of Markle’s adjacent fame, getting into the rosé business might have seemed novel. Now, not so much. Just about everyone who has surfaced on “Page Six” has their own brand of rosé, and peak pink vibes are in the air.
It wasn’t all that long ago when the snobs dismissed the entire category as gimmicky and uninteresting. “Lady Petrol,” it’s been called. Both price point and quality were low. Now tables at beach bars and Mediterranean restaurants are weighed down by magnums of the stuff, dripping in seductive condensation. Their corks are popped with a showiness once reserved for champagne.
The small and limited pleasures allowed and enjoyed during the pandemic’s first summer were a key factor in rosé’s explosive growth. Global sales of the wine reached $3.1 billion in 2022 and are expected to hit $4.6 billion by 2030. Premium rosé sales soared 18.9 percent from 2023 to 2024. In 2019, Möet Hennessy, the alcoholic arm of the LVMH luxury-goods group, acquired majority stakes in both Whispering Angel’s Château d’Esclans vineyard and Château Minuty, a nine-million-bottle producer of Côtes de Provence.
The actors just love it—even sparring ones. Château Miraval, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s wildly successful (and bitterly fought-over) Côtes de Provence winery, has an estimated value of $162 million. And there is Cameron Diaz’s low-intervention Avaline variety, made of organic grapes. And how about Sarah Jessica Parker’s Invivo X collaboration with a New Zealand winery? Or John Malkovich’s Les Quelles de la Coste Rosé IGP Vaucluse Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir–blend rosé?
Once upon a time, for someone of Markle’s adjacent fame, getting into the rosé business might have seemed novel. Now, not so much.
And let’s not forget Carmel Road, by Drew Barrymore, and Fresh Vine Wine rosé, a low-sugar blend of Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir by Dancing with the Stars host Julianne Hough and actress Nina Dobrev. Hampton Water Rosé is the result of a partnership between rock star Jon Bon Jovi, his son Jesse, and French wine-maker Gérard Bertrand. Kylie Minogue is estimated to have already sold more than 15 million bottles of her Kylie rosé in a four-year period, racking up more than $10 million in sales in 2023.
We’ve hardly started!
Why not try a glass of Maison No. 9, by Post Malone; race-car driver Danica Patrick’s Danica Rosé; Elegante Rosato, by Gordon Ramsay; or Vanderpump Rosé, by Lisa Vanderpump? Talk-show host Graham Norton’s blend includes Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, and Sauvignon Blanc. Sting’s Tenuta Il Palagio Beppe Rosato Toscana IGT comes from his and Trudie Styler’s estate in the Tuscan countryside, and Ridley Scott makes his Mas des Infermières blend in the Luberon.
Remember when music superstars wanted their own clothing line, then a vodka brand, and finally a bottle of gin or champagne with their name on it? We now have MYX Light Rosé, by Nicki Minaj; Sun Goddess, by Mary J. Blige; and John Legend’s Legend Vineyard Exclusives jam juice. Jay-Z’s Ace of Spades rosé is even sparkling. And if all else fails, there’s Domaine Bertaud Belieu, for which D.J. Paul Oakenfold is a spokesperson. (Surely, singers Axl Rose and Pink are missing a trick here?)
Why do we like it so? And will we carry on knocking it back like chilled 7 Up for summers ad infinitum? Wine expert Tom Gilbey has an intriguing theory. “Rosé is the only wine product that looks good on social media,” he says. (He has 424,000 followers on Instagram, so he would know.) “You are not selling wine. You are selling the South of France.”
For a while, says Gilbey, the prosecco industry tried to follow a similar route, “but prosecco was too sweet, fizzy, and acidic and gave you a nasty hangover.” (And sold you the suburbs rather than St. Tropez.)
Is it worth the hype, the photobombs, and the ever inflating price tags? “Rosé is becoming more expensive, but it is also much better, more enjoyable and palatable than it used to be,” explains Jérôme Pernot, general manager of Château Léoube Rosé, the Provence vineyard owned by Carole Bamford.
“The wine snobs can laugh all they like at this new wave of celebrity wines, but they are selling by the truckload and introducing a whole new generation of young people to a drink and a lifestyle they probably never considered a few years ago,” says Gilbey.
“Sip and chill,” says Snoop Dogg, who has his own rosé, 19 Crimes. “Sip and chill.”
Simon Mills is an editor at Wallpaper* and a writer at The Times of London
