Miraval and Star Wine List celebrate the art of rosé across the UK

For 2025, Star Wine List of the Year UK with The Buyer has introduced a new category to the competition and will name the Best Rosé Wine list in the country, with the help of esteemed Provençal estate, Miraval.

Partner story with Miraval.

One of the most prominent names of the past decade’s oft-discussed ‘rosé revolution’ is Miraval. Located in Correns, in the Var region of Provence, southeastern France, the estate’s winemaking history dates back to the thirteenth century, with creative credentials added in the latter part of the twentieth under the ownership of French jazz pianist Jacques Loussier (Pink Floyd recorded The Wall there in 1979, for example). But perhaps Miraval’s biggest claim to fame came in 2011, when it was acquired by actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who later held their wedding in its chapel, in 2014.

No ordinary endorsement

Miraval’s celebrity notoriety goes beyond the iconic bottle and label. Indeed, the names Jolie and Pitt are by no means a prominent feature on the Miraval wines sold around the world. Rather, the 2011 acquisition saw an overhaul of the winery and a shrewd collaboration with Famille Perrin – owners of Château de Beaucastel, a giant of Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Southern Rhône – ultimately producing some of the finest, highest-scoring rosés of recent times.

The wine style “is based on the principle of simple sophistication,” says Andrew Bayley, Managing Director of Famille Perrin, “an expression of an exceptional terroir. It is elegant and harmonious, and balanced with aromatic freshness and refinement. We work with the utmost precision to develop the mid-palate weight of the wine to ensure there is depth and body, making it a perfect ‘gourmand’ rosé.”

The wines

The range includes the signature ‘Miraval’ rosé, made from Cinsault, Grenache, Rolle and Syrah grown on clay and limestone vines sitting at an average of 350m elevation near the village itself. The grapes are hand-harvested in cool morning temperatures and vinified primarily in stainless steel to retain freshness and pure fruit flavours, with a portion of saignee juice from the Syrah grapes included for a hint of depth and texture. It is a wine of gastronomic potential.

Even further food pairing possibilities are opened up with the refined and structured Miraval Sainte-Victoire, which uses the same grapes but chosen from the estate’s premium plots, thus exploring the nature of Miraval’s terroir: for this wine, that terroir is comprised of limestone clay parcels, with vines planted on slopes looking down over the upper Arc Valley, on two opposing hillsides, south of the Sainte-Victoire mountain and north/north-west of the Aurélien mountains. The Mediterranean climate offers exceptional sunshine exposure and a strong Mistral wind, with a thermal amplitude magnified by the more continental character of this higher location, compared to the Arc Valley. These conditions enable the grapes to ripen to perfection, maintaining a natural balance between freshness and acidity.

‘Muse de Miraval’ is deemed the estate’s ‘Grande Cuvée’ and exhibits the aging potential of rosé wines. Grenache and Rolle grapes are taken from Miraval’s top two – and oldest – vineyard parcels, vinified in concrete eggs and partially matured in demi-muids for a more complex expression. By contrast, ‘Studio by Miraval’ is a light, aperitif-style wine inspired by the Mediterranean Sea. Its name is a nod to the estate’s musical heritage, which is continued in the form of Miraval Studios, a recording studio refurbished in 2022 to continue the Loussier legacy, and the cèpage also includes the Provençal grape Tibouren.

Miraval at Star Wine List of the Year

On 3 March 2025, Miraval will present a Gold Star to the winner of the Best Rosé Wine List category at Star Wine List of the Year UK with The Buyer. Our international awards tour celebrates not just the wine lists of the world but the teams that have crafted them, and this rosé category – a first for the competition – shows just how far the notion of rosé has come, not to mention its prospects across the wine trade.

“Premium on-trade continues to outperform the rest of the market as the importance and emphasis of quality, provenance and communications grow,” says Bayley. “This performance stems from higher quality and higher spend. In this sector, the rosé category continues to grow (rosé being the only colour to grow post Covid) but is under-represented.

“There is untapped potential in offering a more diverse premium rosé selection on a wine list, as the average spend per bottle has not increased at the same rate as the other colours. For Miraval, our primary objective therefore is to encourage further breadth in listings, which match[es] consumers’ willingness to experiment.”

Why do you want to be part of the awards?

“The opportunity to create a new rosé category award for the Star Wine List of the Year awards (which we consider to be the wine equivalent of the Michelin Star awards) provides a perfect platform to highlight the opportunity to grow the category within the premium on-trade. We are really looking forward to rewarding those whom are already ahead of the curve and are exploring the diversity of the rosé category.”

Why do the Miraval wines pair well with food? Do they suit any cuisines in particular?

“Through definition and diversity we believe that the rosé category has so much more potential to enhance many menus. The balance of flavour profiles and natural acidity are wonderful palates for sommeliers to explore with a wide variety of dishes and cuisine. There are certain stand-outs, such as lobster/seafood and Asian cuisine, but many more to explore…”

For inspiration matching Miraval to food, Bayley looks to Michelin-starred chef Claude Bosi, who has created three dishes that bring out the best in the wines:

• Baked scallop, strawberry and tomato sauce vierge
  
• Red berry and hibiscus soup, iced rosé shavings
  
• Orecchiette of native lobster, raspberries, cumin and herbs
  

Find out more about Miraval via the website.