The Truth About Angelina Jolie And Brad Pitt's Winery
Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt in 2016, and while they're no longer legally married, the former couple still hasn't finalized its divorce settlement. In 2019, Brangelina reportedly asked for more time to figure out how to divide its finances.
One of the major sticking points is the couple's famed winery in Southern France. Jolie and Pitt own a huge historic estate there called Chateau Miraval, and there's a very successful winery on the property. With hundreds of acres of vineyards, the winery has been selling immensely popular wines under Jolie and Pitt's name since 2013. Their first batch of rosé sold out in five hours!
While the Hollywood A-listers continue to hash out their divorce settlement, Chateau Miraval continues to produce tasty wines right on schedule. Relationship status aside, Jolie and Pitt aren't your typical celebrity vintners. Here's everything you need to know about the Miraval winery.
Brangelina's winery is on a sprawling estate in France
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt began renting Chateau Miraval in 2008, and in 2011, they purchased the historic Correns, France property for an estimated $60 million (via People). When they officially tied the knot in 2014, they got married on Chateau Miraval's grounds.
Chateau Miraval has a number of impressive features, including a 35-room main house, olive groves, a private lake, a dirt-bike course, twin helicopter pads, and so much more. There's even a recording studio on the property where The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and other artists have recorded albums.
Then there's the winery, which Jolie and Pitt co-own with the Perrin family. The vineyards came with the property — before Jolie and Pitt owned Chateau Miraval, it was owned by American winegrower Tom Bove. The land has been producing organic grapes for about 40 years, Marc Perrin told The Telegraph.
Pitt is a wine buff, so the decision to branch out into winemaking was an easy one. The couple dove in with the help of the Perrins in 2012. "We fell in love with Miraval thanks to its potential," Perrin told The Telegraph. "We proposed a partnership with Pitt and Jolie, and they accepted 24 hours later."
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's wines are top-notch
The Perrin family took a risk by collaborating with Brangelina on the winery. "With the media spotlight on Brangelina, the slightest mistake with their wine could have proved disastrous," David Chazan writes for The Telegraph.
Luckily, no such disaster has occurred. Miraval wines are beloved by wine drinkers and critics alike. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's first wine, a 2012 Côtes de Provence rosé, quickly won wine lovers over, and not just because of the name recognition. "They're not celebrity vintners; Brad and Angelina are real vintners," vintner and restaurateur Joe Bastianich told Vanity Fair in a 2013 review. "They hired a real wine-maker, they waited until the wine was good, they released it properly — this is a legitimate wine." Chateau Miraval's rosé was named one of the top 100 wines in the world in 2012 by Wine Spectator.
Both Pitt and Jolie are hands-on with the winery. People reports that they "have been personally involved in production, attending past harvests, blending sessions and consulting on packaging and marketing." Between their attentive care and the Perrin family's expertise, Miraval has only continued to improve with time. Another wine cellar opened on the property in 2019, and its Muse de Miraval rosé broke price records at a charity auction by commanding a price of 2600 euros (via Wine Spectator).
In addition to rosés, Miraval also produces white wines, and there's reportedly a rosé champagne on the way.
The fate of Chateau Miraval is unclear
After Angelina Jolie filed for divorce in 2016, Marc Perrin confirmed to People that the couple didn't plan to sell Chateau Miraval — a relief to wine fans everywhere. Indeed, Perrin said it was "business as usual at the estate."
But Jolie and Pitt still haven't been able to come to an agreement on who gets to keep the chateau. It remains a major "sticking point" in their divorce settlement, Us Weekly reported in October 2019. They managed to come to a custody arrangement for their six children, but not determine custody over their estate in France. "Angelina wants to be awarded the property as hers entirely because it was her idea to purchase the property to begin with," a source told Us, but Pitt supposedly feels differently.
The winery clearly isn't waiting for its owners to get out of divorce limbo. Nearly four years post-divorce, Miraval is "busier than ever," Wine Spectator reported in January 2020. In fact, if you're looking for the perfect rosé, Miraval's Côtes de Provence rosé remains as well-liked and affordable as ever. It ranges in price from about $25 to under $10, depending on the store.