Meghan Markle’s lifestyle brand, As Ever, is proving she can sell more than headlines.
On June 20, the Duchess announced the launch of her very own 2024 Napa Valley Rosé, described in the brand’s newsletter as offering “soft notes of stone fruit, gentle minerality, and a lasting finish.”
Just 11 days later, the first batch hit AsEver.com and sold out in under an hour.
Riding the wave of that instant success, Meghan dropped a second round on August 5. Those bottles? Gone just as fast.
The exact number of bottles available remains a mystery, but it’s hard to ignore the Meghan effect.
Since stepping away from royal life in January 2020, she’s stayed firmly in the public spotlight, a figure who draws both admiration and criticism in equal measure. (In the UK, YouGov currently pegs her popularity at just 21%.)
Celebrity-owned rosés are everywhere these days. Brad Pitt has Miraval, Jon Bon Jovi bottles Hampton Water, Sarah Jessica Parker co-created Invivo X, and Snoop Dogg is behind 19 Crimes.
Some have earned genuine respect in the wine world, while others… well, let’s just say they lean more toward celebrity cash grab than cellar-worthy vintage.
Jordan Salcito, an award-winning sommelier who has led wine programs at Eleven Madison Park and Momofuku, put As Ever Rosé through a no-favouritism, no-nonsense taste test.
“I approached it exactly as I would any other bottle: with curiosity, attention, and the analytical framework I’ve used to understand thousands of wines throughout my career,” says Salcito, whose wine tasting guide, Smart Mouth, hits shelves this October.
He has pairing advice, serve it chilled alongside grilled salmon, pork belly or barbecue, roasted vegetables, or even your favourite spicy Thai takeout.
It is a genuinely well-crafted rosé that just so happens to carry a famous name. This is a wine that drinks like a wine first and a celebrity product second.
Its technical execution is polished, the flavour profile engaging, and the structure strong enough to suggest it will hold up beautifully over the next year or two.
