We asked a wine expert to try Meghan's rosé. This was her verdict

Telegraph

6 days ago

To much fanfare, Meghan Markle last month released her very own Californian wine, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Mourvèdre, Grenache, and Syrah.
The launch of the Napa Valley rosé follows the release of the Duchess's line of fruit 'spreads' (that's jam, to you and I), 'edible' petals (not quite potpourri), herbal tea, crepe and shortbread mix, plus orange blossom honey under her As Ever moniker.
The Provençal-style rosé is touted on the bottle as: 'Effortlessly elegant - crafted for slow afternoons and golden-hour gatherings... the essence of sun-drenched outdoor moments.'
The rather boozy offering, at 14.5 per cent ABV, retails at £22 ($30) per bottle and is sold in cases of three (plus an extra $20 for shipping).
After managing to bag an order of the sold-out wine, The Telegraph enlisted Diane Gross, a wine expert and the owner of Cork, a wine bar in Washington, DC, to give her verdict.
Gross knows a thing or two about rosé. Her wine bar, which she opened nearly 18-years-ago, offers 350 varieties of wine ranging from $10 to $400 a bottle. The bar also has a rosé menu served exclusively on their patio.
To truly put the wine to the test, Gross conducted her tasting blind.
As Ever was concealed in brown paper along with two other bottles, one from California and another Provençal rosé, to avoid bias.
Once the glasses were poured, giving her first impression on what turned out to be the Duchess's glass, Gross said the millennial pink wine is 'the colour of rosé everybody likes.'
'I'm getting a little more on the nose here,' she said, adding it had notes of cooked fruit, red fruits, cherries, spice, and candy.
Gross continued: 'The wine isn't sweet at all, it's just sort of that top note of tutti frutti, like, it's a little bit like your chewing gum. But it's not a bad thing at all, it happens a lot in rosé.'
She also described the wine as a little 'hot', meaning that the taste of alcohol is a little overwhelming.
In the blind test, Meghan's wine was her least favourite compared to the other two pale rosés, a French blend with notes of lime and strawberry, and a citrussy Californian offering.
However, she insisted she enjoyed it: 'I like it, it just tastes like it has darker fruit notes. It has that sweet-salty finish that you sometimes get with rosé.
'It has a little bit of a blend, the fruit, and the minerality comes through.'
But asked if she'd take it to a dinner party the answer was a resounding no.
'When I go to somebody's house, I only take wine that I love. Whether it's going to a party, and I'm bringing a $12 bottle, or I'm going to a nice dinner and I'm bringing a $50 bottle, I only take things that I absolutely love,' she said.
'Probably I wouldn't take it for that reason, okay, but that's [just] me.
'I don't think it would be embarrassing to turn up with it. I think people would think it was super cool, and it tastes good.'
And the price point?
'I don't think anybody would be disappointed buying it at $30. It's a tasty wine that folks will enjoy and not feel they have spent too much,' she said.
When it comes to the celebrity wine genre, Gross is sceptical but not totally dismissive.
She said: 'I would always want to look more, how involved is [the celebrity] really? Are they just putting their name on it? Are they involved in the growing, tasting, the blending?'
She conceded that the Duchess had given it a good go.
Beyond having a 'nice bottle' and a 'pretty logo', Gross said. 'It seems like some thought went into this, and that there is the style that she's trying to get to.
'For me, that means it was intentional and she was thinking about it, as she is tasting and figuring out what she wanted to do.
'She could have put her name on anything,' she said, adding: 'This was an intentional project, where she really thought about what the wine represented, and what she wanted to represent, which was California.'
Gross, who is also from California, says that genuinely comes through. 'You have these beautiful winds, you're on the water,' she adds, somewhat wistfully.
A punter's verdict
'I liked Meghan's wine the best'
I genuinely liked Meghan's wine the best out of all we had tasted.
To me, the notes of Cabernet Sauvignon - one of my favourite grapes - were strong and bolshy, adding an element of peppery spice.
To drink, it felt almost velvety and was buttery on the palate. Its bright profile made me think of gold, although perhaps more of the kind you get with costume jewellery, that turns brassy over time.
The smell was my least favourite thing about it, reminiscent of the vaguely artificial tang when someone near you opens a bag of Skittles, or something a little soapy.
Overall, I enjoyed it but I would probably be equally as happy with a chilled glass of your local supermarket's finest £10 pinot blush.
The best things I sampled in Cork was the chips — recently crowned the best in the city, according to Washington City Paper.
Perfectly fluffy morsels in golden, frangible, oil-kissed jackets, smothered with herbs and garlic and served with a brothy homemade ketchup that was more akin to a luxurious tomato bisque than a squeeze of Heinz. If Meghan had a product of that calibre, she'd have a returning customer in me.
'It burned the back of my throat'
Like our expert, Meghan's rosé was my least favourite of the three we sampled.
Let me preface my review with the disclaimer that while I am one of life's great wine lovers, I am far from a connoisseur.
My tastes are narrow and specific; Sauvignon Blanc, namely from Marlborough, New Zealand; Vinho Verde, Provençal rosé, Lambrusco, the occasional Crémant and champagne when the occasion calls for it (and sometimes when it doesn't.)
As Ever did not have the refreshing qualities I look for in a rosé. It burned in the back of my throat, and I found the taste aggressive.
For that reason, Meghan's latest labour of love will not earn a place in my restrictive wine rotation.