The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial titillated people around the world. Next year it could be Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie's turn to air their dirty laundry in court – and rosé wine is at the center of their dispute.
The tawdry tale has everything needed to become a TV miniseries: a nasty celebrity divorce, a Russian oligarch, an action star turned ferocious Momma Bear, a fabulous mansion and one of the world's most popular pink wines.
That wine isChâteau Miraval, which Pitt raised from obscurity after he and Jolie leased theProvenceestate in 2008 and then purchased it in 2011. Previously, the winery made a rosé wine called "Pink Floyd" because the band recorded its "The Wall" album in the winery's on-site recording studio. Pitt enlisted the Perrin family ofChâteau BeaucastelandTablas Creekto help improve the wine.
It worked. Château Miraval 2012, under Pitt's management, became the first rosé wine to crack Wine Spectator's Top 100. Pitt did an interview with Wine Spectator in which he said: "I'm a farmer now", and was widely mocked in wine circles for it. But the fact is, he poured a lot of time and money into Château Miraval and succeeded in both improving its quality and making it one of the most-sought rosés in the world.
According to an amended lawsuit filed last week by Pitt against Jolie in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Jolie was just along for the ride; Pitt gave her shares in the company. They have fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, and Jolie apparently took the lead on home-schooling them and their other four kids.
It's the kids that led, indirectly, to the winery legal battle, at least according to Pitt.
The couple's nasty divorce proceedings began in 2016 and were finalized in 2019. Jolie complained about Pitt's drinking; he admitted to GQ that he drank too much, and said he stopped after a fight with his oldest son on an airplane that led to Jolie filing for divorce. According to Vanity Fair, the FBI and LA County investigated Pitt for child abuse after "an anonymous call", but cleared him. Jolie sought sole custody of the six kids.
葡萄酒的解偶联
At the same time, Pitt was trying to unravel his association with Jolie in Château Miraval. Their business structure was complicated. Both had separate companies for their shares in the winery: Pitt's is called Mondo Bongo; Jolie's is called Nouvel. They set up a third company called Quimicum in Luxembourg to hold both parties' shares.
According to his lawsuit, Pitt had an agreement with Jolie for right of first refusal if she ever sold her shares, and he believed the structure of Quimicum would prevent either party from selling without the other's consent. However, in June 2020, Jolie informed Pitt that she was pulling out of that agreement and would pursue other transactions.
The couple's custody lawsuit went to trial, and in May 2021, the presiding judge found that Jolie was not credible (according to Pitt's lawsuit) and modified the custody agreement to give Pitt joint custody. Jolie later successfully petitioned for that judge to be removed ... but the custody of these kids is a rabbit hole that we don't need to go down until the TV trial starts.
Instead, Pitt alleges in his lawsuit that Jolie sought, as revenge, to sell her shares in Miraval to someone who would undermine the business: Yuri Shefler, the owner ofStolivodka. Pitt claims that the first time he learned of the sale was an October 2021 press release, when Shefler's company announced it had bought Jolie's stake.
You could hardly find a more difficult co-owner, image-wise, since Russia invaded Ukraine. You can find videos all over the web of people pouring Stoli down the drain. Pitt's lawsuit says Shefler's business partner Petr Aven has been designated by the European Union as "one of Putin's closest oligarchs" and Shefler himself was called by the US government an "oligarch in the Russian Federation".
Pitt complains that Shefler is intentionally making his business more difficult through actions such as attempting to tie up Miraval's bank assets. Beyond that, just being in business with him is hurting sales.
"Long-term distributors of the wine business have expressed concern about Miraval’s ties to Shefler and questioned their continued commitment to distribute Miraval rosé," the lawsuit claims.
Pitt is suing Jolie for "breach of implied-in-fact contract" and "breach of quasi-contract", which can only lead a neutral observer to say, when you make a deal with someone who already has two divorces, get everything in writing.
But really, a neutral observer has to think this will be great courtroom drama if it gets that far. And I know just the wine to pair with it!
