Brad Pitt to serve own rosé wine at wedding

Hollywood hunk Brad Pitt is to serve one of his own wines at his wedding to actress Angelina Jolie this September, db.com reports. Among the wines hand-picked by Pitt for the reception will be Provençal rosé Pink Floyd, produced at Pitt and Jolie’s Château Miraval in Côtes de Provence, which dates from pre-Roman times.

The wine is so named as rock band Pink Floyd recorded part of their iconic album The Wall at the château, and reportedly became fond of the pink drop during their stay. The estate was home to Studio Miraval in the ‘70s, created by Jazz pianist Jacques Loussier, where everyone from Sting and Sade to The Cranberries came to record music.

The regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne will also feature in the wedding wine line-up, along with one wine from Germany. A source told The Sun: “Brad’s cellar boasts some incredibly rare wines and rivals those of some of the best connoisseurs in Europe. He’s always had a keen interest in wine and did his wine steward’s course this year.”

The Oxford Wine Company website describes the 2011 vintage of Pink Floyd as “a complex rosé with red berry, strawberry and red cherry fruit underpinned by crisp minerality and tight structure. The 13.5% wine, a blend of old vine Cinsault and Grenache, is bottled under cork.

Château Miraval is set among 400 hectares of land, 75 of which are planted with vines on a mixture of clay and chalk soil. In addition to Pink Floyd, the estate produces a white made from Rolle and a red made from Syrah, Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon. The château has certified organic vineyards in Côtes de Provence and Côteaux Varois.

Pitt and Jolie plan to tie the knot in September with only close family and friends present. Pitt has been left to do the majority of the wedding planning. In May, it was reported that Brad Pitt is to star in the film adaptation of The Billionaire’s Vinegar, a book by Benjamin Wallace on the fake Thomas Jefferson bottles affair.  

Château Routas

During a recent trip to sunny Provence with Vins de Provence, I paid a visit to Château Routas in Côteaux Varois, inches away from Brat Pitt and Angelina Jolie's Château Miraval, where I was greeted by affable, baseball cap-wearing Scotsman and friend of Sean Connery, Grahame "Haggie" Haggart. Pairing up with Helena Nicklin, aka The Wine Bird, in the following video we taste the award-winning Wild Boar Rosé 2011 and an unusual Viognier/Chardonnay blend, Coquelicot 2008, the former of which is available from TheDrinkShop.com. Salut!

Brad Pitt to star in The Billionaire’s Vinegar

Hollywood heartthrob Brad Pitt is to star in a film adaptation of The Billionaire’s Vinegar, a book by Benjamin Wallace on the fake Thomas Jefferson bottles affair.  As reported on db.com, the film, slated to hit cinemas this year, has been co-produced by actor Will Smith, who bought the rights to the book as part of a Hollywood consortium.

Produced by Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Sony Pictures, The Billionaire’s Vinegar is directed by David Keopp, who has worked on blockbusters such as Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible, Spider-Man and War of the Worlds. He also wrote the script for Men In Black III, starring Will Smith in the lead role. David Bloomfield, who produced The Fighter, Seven Pounds and Thank You For Smoking, is the executive producer.

The court case surrounding the counterfeit Jefferson bottles continues. Last week, Wine and the City reported that billionaire William Koch has asked a US appeals court to revive the lawsuit against auction house Christie’s for assisting the sale of fake bottles of 1787 Lafite belonging to American President Thomas Jefferson. In 1987, Koch bought four bottles of 1787 Château Lafite engraved “Th.J” that were sold to him by wine dealer Hardy Rodenstock for US$500,000.

The court has yet to issue a ruling, but will give a written opinion at a later date. This is not the first time wine has appeared on the silver screen – Pinot Noir was eulogised and Merlot derided in the 2004 cult comedy Sideways, starring Paul Giamatti, adapted from Rex Pickett’s novel of the same name.

In 2006, Gladiator director Ridley Scott swapped swords for pruning sheers in his Provence-based romantic comedy A Good Year, starring Russell Crowe. The same year saw the release of Bottle Shock, a comedy-drama based on the iconic 1976 Judgment of Paris blind tasting, starring Alan Rickman in the role of wine writer and former merchant Steven Spurrier.

Salon '99 launched with fish 'n' chips

Salon is one of those mythical wines like Pétrus and Yquem that you usually only ever hear about other people drinking. But I got lucky last week. My editor was unable to attend the launch lunch for Salon '99, so I gallantly stepped in in his place.

Rather than a swanky, seven-course do, Corney & Barrow rather stylishly opted to host the lunch at trendy fish 'n' chip restaurant Geales in Notting Hill. I'd often heard about the brilliance of Champagne and fish 'n' chips – The Wine Society staff swear by the ritual every Friday, so was keen to try the pairing out for size.

Based in the village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, known for its chalk-rich soils, Salon, made from a single cru and a single grape; Chardonnay, is only released in exceptional years – just 37 vintages have been released since it was founded in 1905. The Blanc de Blancs spends 10 years ageing on the lees before disgorgment.

Salon president, the dapper, debonair Didier Depond*, introduced the wine, quipping that it was the first time he'd ever tried Salon with fish 'n' chips: “1999 was an exceptional vintage, and the resulting wine is naturally sophisticated and rich in flavour, but it’s difficult to judge its character at the moment, as it’s still only a teenager." Having already compared 1997 to Audrey Hepburn for its femininity and grace, I push Depond for a '99 comparison. "It would be a pretty boy actor, like Brad Pitt. It’s unmistakably masculine, but also beautiful and elegant."

Bottled in 2000, the '99 vintage will be disgorged in batches of 2,000 every six months. Only 50,000 bottles will be produced. Vinification is entirely in stainless steel, and there is no malolactic fermentation. The dosage is a bone-dry five grams per litre of residual sugar.

Speaking with Depond, he tells me Salon is becoming more and more of a collectors' item, and is enjoying considerable success at auction. "People are going mad for the magnums, because it’s the best size for ageing Champagne, and we only release a very small amount of them. The older vintages are selling at crazy levels in Hong Kong, London and Paris.” Salon jumped 20 places from 46 to 26 in the Liv-ex Power 100 chart last year, coming in just two places behind Krug.

So what of the combination? I thought it worked incredibly well with the battered haddock, cutting through the fat with its zesty freshness. Pale gold in colour, with small, ebullient bubbles, it had an intense citrus nose, almost like lemon drops, with accompanying notes of white flower, white fruit, and bitter almond. Light and refreshing and yet steely and direct on the palate, it had youthful lift, assured elegance and underlying purity. Contrary to Depond, I found it feminine, fragrant and perfumed – perhaps more of a Grace Kelly than a Brad Pitt.

A half case of Salon 1999 will be available through Corney & Barrow for £950 from mid-May.

*Picture of Didier Depond courtesy of Jamie Goode