Gently rolling hills lush with grape-heavy vineyards stretch for miles through California’s verdant Napa Valley until a turn on Silverado Trail leads you to the yawning chasm of a cave carved into the hillside.
It is here, deep in a labyrinth of darkened tunnels, that Meghan Markle’s new rosé wine – which goes on sale on Tuesday (July 1) – has been awaiting its debut, The Mail on Sunday can exclusively reveal.
The cellar entrance leads to the wine-filled oak caskets of Fairwinds Estate, a California winery that creates bespoke wines for celebrities including Barry Manilow, the estate of cowboy movie legend John Wayne and the hit Western television series ‘Yellowstone.’
Meghan specifically picked Fairwinds – 75 miles north of San Francisco and a six-hour drive from her home in Montecito – to show her support after the winery was almost totally destroyed in a devastating 2020 wildfire which caused $15 million worth of damage.
A source said: ‘She wanted to lean in and help a California business rebuild.’
The ‘As Ever’ rosé – which Meghan described as being ‘infused with joy and whimsy’ – is the duchess’s first foray into the lucrative world of celebrity alcohol branding but has not been without controversy.
Critics have pointed out that she has chosen to launch her wine on July 1, on what would have been Princess Diana’s 64th birthday.
Prince Harry’s mother was killed by a drunk driver, Henri Paul, when Harry was just 12 years old.
Gently rolling hills lush with grape-heavy vineyards stretch for miles through California’s verdant Napa Valley until a turn on Silverado Trail leads you to the yawning chasm of a cave carved into the hillside
It is here, deep in a labyrinth of darkened tunnels, that Meghan Markle ‘s new rosé wine has been awaiting its debut, The Mail on Sunday can exclusively reveal
The ‘As Ever’ rosé – which Meghan described as being ‘infused with joy and whimsy’ – is the duchess’s first foray into the lucrative world of celebrity alcohol branding but has not been without controversy
One woman wrote on Twitter: ‘Is it really appropriate to launch a wine on what would have been her mother-in-law’s birthday when Diana was killed by a drunk driver?’
Another said: ‘It feels a little tone deaf.’
Regardless of the critics, if Meghan’s wine is successful it could net her a fortune.
Brad Pitt’s Miravel rosé brand is valued at around $200 million while George Clooney sold his CasaAmigos tequila company for a staggering $1 billion.
Meghan – a wine lover who named her original blog ‘The Tig’ after her favourite Italian Tignanello wine – spent months tasting dozens of different blends created in Fairwinds’ 25,000 sq. ft. cellar, before settling on the final mix.
The bespoke wine is understood to contain a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot grapes.
A source said: ‘Every time she had friends over she would test the different blends out on them and then give notes back to the expert winemaker that it needed more of this, or less of that. This is a custom-made wine.’
Meghan was instrumental in every aspect of the creation of her rosé right down to designing the label with her trademark calligraphy handwriting.
Brad Pitt’s Miravel rosé brand is valued at around $200 million while George Clooney (above) sold his CasaAmigos tequila company for a staggering $1 billion
Critics have pointed out that Meghan has chosen to launch her wine on July 1, on what would have been Princess Diana’s 64th birthday – Prince Harry’s mother was killed by a drunk driver, Henri Paul, when Harry was just 12 years old
Meghan spent months tasting dozens of different blends created in Fairwinds’ cellar, before settling on the final mix – the bespoke wine is understood to contain a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot grapes
The cellar entrance leads to the wine-filled oak caskets of Fairwinds Estate, a California winery that creates bespoke wines for celebrities including Barry Manilow , the estate of cowboy movie legend John Wayne and the hit Western television series ‘Yellowstone’
Meghan specifically picked Fairwinds – 75 miles north of San Francisco and a six-hour drive from her home in Montecito – to show her support after the winery was almost totally destroyed in a devastating 2020 wildfire which caused $15 million worth of damage
The gold-rimmed label on the front of the bottle says: ‘As Ever Rosé Napa Valley 2023’ while the back describes the wine as having ‘soft notes of stone fruit, gentle mineralogy and a lasting finish.’
She signs off: ‘As ever, Meghan.’
The 2023 vintage is considered one of the best harvests in living memory thanks to plentiful spring rain and a temperate summer that produced a bumper grape crop.
Fairwinds Estate has risen ‘phoenix-like from the ashes,’ cellar master Troy Harbison told the MoS when we visited on Friday afternoon.
Mr Harbison said: ‘The winery and tasting room were destroyed in the 2020 fire and haven’t been rebuilt, The fire came down Hope Valley, over the hill and ripped through this property. Only the cellars survived.
‘We aren’t growing any grapes on this site but we have acreage across Napa Valley. We also buy in grapes from other vineyards, all in Napa Valley.
‘For a while we weren’t sure if the winery would survive.
‘Then the owners had the idea of working with celebrities and sports teams to make their own line of wines and it really took off.
The gold-rimmed label on the front of the bottle says: ‘As Ever Rosé Napa Valley 2023’
The back describes the wine as having ‘soft notes of stone fruit, gentle mineralogy and a lasting finish
Fairwinds Estate has risen ‘phoenix-like from the ashes,’ cellar master Troy Harbison told the MoS when we visited on Friday afternoon
‘We now produce wines for television shows and American football teams, basketball franchises, hockey and baseball teams. It was all because of the fire.’
It is not known what price Meghan will charge for her new rosé but Fairwinds sells its rosé for $36 a bottle.
Once Meghan made her final selection her wine was put into barrels and shipped 20 miles across winding country roads to the Kunde Family Winery in the neighbouring valley of Sonoma County.
The wine was decanted into vast steel vats 18 feet high and holding up to 40,000 gallons before being piped across the roof of the Kunde’s tasting room into its bottling plant.
A member of staff said: ‘This can produce 90 bottles a minute and up to 2,000 cases of wine a day at full throttle.’
The fire that tore through Fairwinds destroyed its own bottling plant which is why it now farms out the bottling of its wines to other vineyards.
The wine was put into barrels and shipped 20 miles across winding country roads to the Kunde Family Winery in the neighbouring valley of Sonoma County
It is not known what price Meghan will charge for her new rosé but Fairwinds sells its rosé for $36 a bottle
Fairwinds has a storied history as the fourth Napa vineyard to be established after Prohibition ended in 1933.
The Glass Fire in September 2020 made global headlines as firefighters carefully lowered the Stars and Stripes flag before the winery burned down.
Vineyard owners Brandon Chaney – a colourful character whose Instagram handle is ‘The Cowboy Wino’ – and Anthony Zabit fought a legal battle against their insurance company for money to rebuild, a process which is ongoing.
Fairwinds’ website recalls the dark days of the fire saying: ‘In an act of true patriotism the firefighters of Engine 559 of the Fremont Fire Department saved the American Flag as the Glass Fire overtook Fairwinds.
‘The next day, these brave men presented the flag back to Brandon and Anthony to proudly raise about the new structures to rise from the ashes in the coming years.’
Meghan and Harry have been strong supporters of firemen.
They toured areas of LA ravaged by wildfires earlier this year and support Kevin Costner’s annual Rock for Responders concert in Santa Barbara.