Champagne Fleur de Miraval

History of Champagne Fleur de Miraval

The history of Champagne Fleur de Miraval begins in 2011, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie acquired Château Miraval, in the village of Correns in Provence. Alongside the Perrin family, already celebrated for Château de Beaucastel, they launched in 2012 the Miraval Côtes de Provence rosé, which quickly established itself as a world reference for Provence rosé. Emboldened by this success, the two families decided to go further and realise a dream: to create a Champagne house dedicated solely to rosé, capable of reinventing this style by playing on the maturity of Chardonnay and the freshness of Pinot Noir.

The meeting with Rodolphe Péters, sixth generation of the Pierre Péters house in Mesnil-sur-Oger, sealed the adventure. At the helm of twenty hectares, sixteen of which are Grand Cru on the Côte des Blancs, this master of Blanc de Blancs shares with the Perrins an absolute demand for quality and a taste for the rare art of great vintage rosés. The trio of Pitt, Perrin and Péters, nicknamed the 3Ps, then conducted five years of research, trials and tastings in the greatest secrecy. In October 2020, Fleur de Miraval Exclusivement Rosé finally came to light — a first revolutionary limited edition. Since then, the house has expressed its art through successive editions (ER1, ER2, ER3, ER4) and has expanded its range with the Petite Fleur cuvée, produced in 2023.

Terroirs and Vines of Champagne Fleur de Miraval

The cradle of Champagne Fleur de Miraval is located in Mesnil-sur-Oger, a village classified as Grand Cru and considered one of the greatest Chardonnay terroirs on the planet. The Côte des Blancs, which stretches south of Épernay, rests on an exceptionally pure layer of Campanian chalk offering perfect drainage, ideal water regulation and an incomparable mineral signature. Mesnil-sur-Oger, together with its neighbours Cramant, Avize and Oger, constitutes the holy of holies of Champenois Chardonnay, whose wines are distinguished by their saline tension, their aromatic finesse and their extraordinary ageing potential.

To these great Grand Cru Chardonnays are added carefully selected Pinot Noirs, notably sourced from the chalky terroir of Vertus, at the southern tip of the Côte des Blancs — a terroir renowned for producing elegant, fruity and finely structured Pinot Noirs. The vineyard benefits from rigorous viticulture, conducted with a deep respect for the soil and living environment, ensuring grapes of great aromatic purity. This alliance of an exceptional Grand Cru Chardonnay and a lively, zesty Pinot Noir lays the foundations of the Fleur de Miraval style: at once crystalline, vinous and deeply saline.

Vinifications of Champagne Fleur de Miraval

The vinifications of Champagne Fleur de Miraval are built on a unique and meticulous approach, the fruit of five years of research. The Chardonnay, which represents approximately 75 to 85% of the blend depending on the edition, is vinified according to the classic méthode champenoise, across several generations of reserve wines, some of which come from a solera (perpetual reserve) housed in the Péters cellars, whose oldest reserve wines are more than fifteen years old. This subtle blend of Chardonnays of different ages brings depth, complexity and the characteristic chalky signature of Mesnil-sur-Oger.

For the Pinot Noir fraction, generally 15 to 25% of the final wine, the house chooses boldness by resorting to the saignée method, a rare technique in Champagne that involves briefly macerating the grapes with their skins in order to delicately extract the colour and the purest red fruit aromas. The juices are then blended, bottled for secondary fermentation according to the traditional méthode champenoise, then aged at length on laths in the cellars of Mesnil-sur-Oger — a minimum of three years — in order to develop a creamy texture, an ultra-fine bubble and an aromatic bouquet of great sophistication. The dosage, kept particularly measured, allows the saline minerality of the great chalky terroir to fully express itself.

The cuvées of Champagne Fleur de Miraval

Exclusivement Rosé ER1: the founding edition of the house, launched in October 2020 in approximately 20,000 bottles, ER1 marks the official birth of Fleur de Miraval. An assemblage of 75% Chardonnay and 25% Pinot Noir, a delicate rosé robe with copper highlights, a refined nose of grapefruit, white flowers, candied citrus and red fruits. A crystalline, vinous and lastingly saline palate — this first opus immediately lays the foundations of a new style of authorial rosé Champagne.

Exclusivement Rosé ER2: the second prestige edition of the house, ER2 confirms and refines the vision of the trio Pitt, Perrin and Péters. The Grand Cru Chardonnay expresses itself here with even greater chalky precision, supported by a lively Pinot Noir that reveals notes of redcurrant, wild raspberry and gentle spices. Elegance, tension and saline length define this cuvée of rare aromatic finesse.

Exclusivement Rosé ER3: the third edition, acclaimed by international critics (around 94/100), ER3 stands out for its aromatic subtlety and its superb balance between the maturity of the Chardonnay and the freshness of the Pinot Noir. A luminous robe with peach nuances, a complex nose of fresh red fruits, citrus zest, wet chalk and fine pastry, a palate of great purity and remarkable saline length.

Exclusivement Rosé ER4: the latest edition to date, ER4 reaches a new pinnacle of concentration and freshness, awarded 96/100 by the most prestigious wine critics. It marries the precision of aged Chardonnays, the vinosity of young Pinot Noirs and the saline depth of the Grand Cru terroir of Le Mesnil. Pale rose robe with golden highlights, a complex nose of lemon tart, saline raspberries, almond blossoms and a palate of ethereal intensity — this is the most accomplished expression to date of the Fleur de Miraval style.

Petite Fleur: the youngest bloom of the house, Petite Fleur was launched to offer a more accessible entry point into the Fleur de Miraval universe. A blend of 65% Chardonnay from the 2019 vintage, 30% reserve wines drawn from the Réserve Perpétuelle of the grande cuvée, and 5% Pinot Noir, it stands out for its elegant lightness, its surprisingly dense structure and its refined balance. A pale rose robe with copper highlights evoking the light of Provence, a generous nose of fresh red fruits, white flowers and citrus, a fresh, ample and finely saline palate — it is the perfect invitation to discover the spirit of Fleur de Miraval.