2018 Chateau Miraval Rose Cotes de Provence 750 ml

Only a few rosés have ever landed on the Wine Spectator Top 100. One of them was Chateau Miraval’s stunning 2012 debut vintage. Partner and winemaker Marc Perrin is world-famous from his work with Château de Beaucastel, but when the Spectator put Marc on the cover in June 2014, top billing in the “Pitt & Perrin: Superstars in Provence” headline went to co-owner Brad Pitt. 

When that issue of Wine Spectator hit newsstands, many wine industry veterans rolled their eyes—not us. The oversized glossy cover featured a tanned and casually dressed Brad Pitt sipping rosé with Marc Perrin of Château de Beaucastel fame, which Robert Parker has made clear is one of his all-time favorite Châteauneuf-du-Papes with four 100-point scores. Though the headline read “Pitt & Perrin: Superstars in Provence,” the story was anything but a fluff piece. 

The Pitts bought the historic land on which Château Miraval sits in 2012, and their partner Perrin’s golden touch ensured a stunning debut vintage of Miraval Rosé. The eloquent, ballet slipper pink elixir Perrin crafted landed a coveted spot on the Wine Spectator Top 100 List in 2013. Each year since, Wine Spectator and Parker’s Wine Advocate have tripped over themselves to praise Perrin’s supple, silky, gulpable rosé off this exceptionally unique estate.  In 2018, Decanter chimed in with 94 points, calling this rosé “Opulent and inviting on the nose with pristine, pure fruit,” and gushing over its “delicious pepper edge.”

Despite what you’ve read in the tabloids, the Pitts have not sold the sprawling estate and the Perrins are firmly running the show. But the real stars are the sun-drenched vines planted in protective terraced plots at around 1,150 feet in elevation, surrounded by oaks and garrigue, and cleansed by a constant Provençal breeze. The soils are rich in clay, chalk, and most critically, limestone, which delivers a prodigious mineral vein. 

“Château Miraval is its own valley, with exposures in all directions," Perrin told Wine Spectator. “There are few estates in the world that have their own valley. A winemaker could never own this, unless it was in the family for something like 20 generations.”

The storied estates of Provence, the likes of Château d’Esclans and Domaines Ott, will run you $60+ per bottle. The Miraval—at a fraction of those estate’s top cuvées—is an extraordinary wine that shouldn’t be relegated to summertime sipping, but should be enjoyed year-round.