{"id":276605,"date":"2025-07-20T05:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T05:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/276605\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T05:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T05:32:10","slug":"i-tried-meghans-new-wine-with-a-sommelier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/276605\/","title":{"rendered":"I tried Meghan’s new wine with a sommelier"},"content":{"rendered":"

Say what you will about Meghan<\/a>, the Duchess of Sussex\u2019s As ever brand, but the products sell out as quickly as Taylor Swift<\/a> tickets.<\/p>\n

Since As ever debuted in April, customers have been desperate to own a piece of whatever Meghan\u2019s marketing, whether it\u2019s tea, jam, baking mixes, or flower sprinkles. <\/p>\n

Maybe Americans have suddenly developed a hunger for shortbread cookies \u2013 or perhaps it\u2019s Meghan\u2019s celebrity driving the sales. I just want to know if the products are any good, which is how I found myself repeatedly refreshing my laptop browser from my New York<\/a> apartment at 12pm EST on 1 July, when Meghan\u2019s latest launch, a 2023 Napa Valley ros\u00e9, officially dropped on its website (As ever is only shipping within the US at the moment). Thankfully, I was able to snag a few bottles before they flew out of stock, so I could decide for myself if Meghan deserves her flowers \u2013 fresh or dried \u2013 for this new venture.<\/p>\n

Curated by the Duchess of Sussex, As ever\u2019s Proven\u00e7al-style ros\u00e9 is produced by California winery Fairwinds Estate \u2014 so you won\u2019t see \u201cM\u201d and \u201cH\u201d gleefully stomping grapes in their Montecito garden in series two of \u201cWith Love, Meghan.\u201d Described as having \u201csoft notes of stone fruit, gentle minerality, and a lasting finish,\u201d the Napa Valley ros\u00e9 is sold as a pack of three ($90), a half case ($159), and a full case ($300).<\/p>\n

\"TheAs ever\u2019s Proven\u00e7al-style ros\u00e9 is produced by California winery Fairwinds Estate (Photo: Supplied)<\/p>\n

I bought the three-pack, which arrived at my New York City apartment two weeks later. Each bottle was snugly wrapped in tissue paper bearing a sticker of As ever\u2019s hummingbird-and-palm tree logo. Also in the box: A \u201chand-calligraphed\u201d note from Meghan encouraging me to \u201cenjoy\u201d her alcohol. <\/p>\n

Once the ros\u00e9 was chilled, I recruited my friend Suzanne to sample it with me. I gave us both a generous pour, swirled my glass to aerate the pale blush wine, and then took a sniff. It had a pleasant aroma with faint notes of peach. Then I took a sip. It was still giving peach, but a sour, not fully ripe one that needs maybe one more day to sweeten. The slight sourness wasn\u2019t awful, but it did lend a pucker to the sip. As ever claims that its ros\u00e9 boasts a \u201cgentle minerality,\u201d but I only detected acidity, with a tang in the back of my throat as it went down and even a brief burning sensation in my chest. This stuff was strong!<\/p>\n

Suzanne also felt the burn, but she didn\u2019t dislike the ros\u00e9. \u201cIt tastes like a heavy chardonnay,\u201d she said. \u201cIt would be better for a chilly fall evening than a warm summer day.\u201d She was spot on. As ever calls the blend a light ros\u00e9, but it\u2019s actually very full-bodied \u2013 and way too heavy to drink in the midst of the heatwave New York was experiencing. Overall, the ros\u00e9 wasn\u2019t terrible. But it also wasn\u2019t outstanding. It was just\u2026 fine.<\/p>\n

\"JoshuaJoshua Lorbes pouring the ros\u00e9 (Photo: supplied)<\/p>\n

Clearly, I\u2019m no wine expert, which is why I got one more opinion from someone who is: Joshua Lorbes, the sommelier at Jack & Charlie\u2019s restaurant in the West Village. Lorbes thought Meghan\u2019s ros\u00e9 had a \u201cvery interesting\u201d nose with notes of orange and peach. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t smell too powerful, which is nice. It reminds me of Provence ros\u00e9s, which are the benchmark for easy-drinking ros\u00e9s.\u201d (Well done, Meghan!) He took a sip. \u201cThat is kind of heavy. From the nose, it smells so light and gentle.\u201d <\/p>\n

Lorbes looked at the bottle\u2019s label and was shocked to see that the alcohol content was 14.5%. \u201cThat\u2019s like a cabernet sauvignon!\u201d he said. The alcohol content of ros\u00e9 typically ranges between 11% \u2013 13%, so As ever\u2019s blend \u2013 made up of cabernet sauvignon, Mourv\u00e8dre, grenache, and Syrah varietals \u2013 can easily get you buzzed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe acidity is also very high,\u201d said Lorbes, who got that same burning sensation that I did in his chest. \u201cThis is something people [should] drink with food. I\u2019m thinking grilled meats in your backyard or by the ocean. It\u2019s not something you\u2019d drink on its own, and you\u2019re not going to have multiple glasses.\u201d <\/p>\n

For a celebrity wine with a $30 price point, the ros\u00e9 was \u201cpretty good,\u201d Lorbes said, and a smart move for Meghan\u2019s As ever brand. \u201cIt\u2019s a safe business decision for her,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone loves ros\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n

But will everyone love As ever\u2019s ros\u00e9? The initial drop sold out in under an hour, and the brand plans to expand its range with a sparkling wine in the near future, with more varietals to follow. I do believe that Meghan thoughtfully curated the Napa Valley ros\u00e9 blend and didn\u2019t just lend her name to a label. But truthfully, this wine wasn\u2019t what I was expecting. Instead of being simple and well-balanced, As ever\u2019s ros\u00e9 is bold and rather acidic. Despite those qualities, it\u2019s still drinkable, but does it make me want to ros\u00e9 all day? No, I\u2019d say. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Say what you will about Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex\u2019s As ever brand, but the products sell out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[7709,7721,7719,70849,7718,7720,1281,447,38958,7710,519,7711],"class_list":{"0":"post-276605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-british-royal-family","9":"tag-duchess-of-sussex","10":"tag-duke-of-sussex","11":"tag-french-wine","12":"tag-harry","13":"tag-meghan","14":"tag-meghan-markle","15":"tag-prince-harry","16":"tag-rose","17":"tag-royal-families","18":"tag-royal-family","19":"tag-uk-royal-family"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114883929455407748","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}