One of the funniest stories of the year is “British royalists are desperate to taste-test the Duchess of Sussex’s products, which are only sold in America.” Meghan has sent some personal As Ever packages to friends and allies in the UK, but As Ever is not for sale in the UK or Europe. The only way the British tabloids or newspapers are getting their hands on As Ever products is if they have an American office/mailing address, or they have friends in America willing to ship the products over. The Mail’s Palace Confidential talk show idiots did a “taste-test” of Meghan’s rosé on this week’s show. They tried their best to mock the wine, but basically the only bad thing they could come up with is that the wine has a high alcohol content (higher than most rosés). Well, the Times of London also organized a taste-test, but this time, it wasn’t a blind taste-test among staff. No, this time, they gathered three New York-based sommeliers to taste the As Ever wine and give their general thoughts. Some highlights:
Dana Beninati:
“First of all, it’s a beautiful bottle. It’s simple, it’s elegant and I think it speaks to a younger generation without alienating anyone. When I look at the label, I think super-feminine, delicate and very clean, so those are my expectations of the wine. It looks good. It smells good. It’s inviting. I think this is a wine meant to be drunk immediately upon purchase, which is a fair assumption when we’re talking about a rosé. It’s not meant to age.”“When I take my first sip, it’s hot on the finish, not in temperature but in alcohol content. I get that heat on the nose and there’s a slight burn in the aftertaste as well, all this indicates a high-alcohol wine. That’s really surprising to me because consumers nowadays are generally looking for drinks that are lower in alcohol and sugar. When I think about my perfect day, I’m sipping a rosé by the pool, it’s hot outside and my friends and I are enjoying multiple bottles over the course of a day, so I’d typically be looking for lower alcohol content.”
“From a food perspective, it’s giving ripe strawberries and a touch of cranberry. It would be yummy with a Sunday roast with stuffing, Yorkshire pudding and cranberry sauce. A dish like that is rich and fatty, so it would help bring that alcohol back into a sense of balance.
“Overall to me, this is a wine made by expert marketers, not by Meghan. It doesn’t taste like something that’s been handcrafted from family-owned vineyards. It doesn’t feel thoughtful; it doesn’t feel like I’m supporting a small family-owned winery. I think that a bottle of 2024 As Ever or a bottle of 2030 As Ever will taste exactly the same.”
Crystl Faye Horton:
“The colour is a classic salmon pink. It’s definitely aiming for people who want a traditional Provence-style rosé. The addition of cabernet sauvignon to the blend is so interesting to me, because it’s such an expensive grape. The nose is perfumed, but not in an offensive way.“There’s so much going on flavour-wise in this wine. There’s wild strawberries, there’s cherry, there’s quince, there are these sweet baking spices that you would smell when you walked into grandma’s kitchen. You could place it in a tasting menu, a pairing menu or omakase. You could match it with a broad spectrum of Asian cuisines from Thai to Indian. The citrus could cut through any fatty or spicy food.”
“I have tasted a gazillion rosés, and most of them are a good starter wine to get your palate cleansed and your taste buds to stand up on your tongue. With this, there’s a really pretty bright acid in it. It’s really wonderful. A lot of celebrities just slap a label on a bottle, but this really feels like somebody wanted to make this wine with intention. I have met many wonderful winemakers in California, and she has somebody who clearly knows what they’re doing.”
Gambrelle Snyder:
“My first impression is that the colour is a little more orangey-apricot than the pink hue you would typically associate with a Napa rosé. When I stuck my nose in, I was surprised to pick up nectarines and other stone fruit. You’d usually expect cranberries and strawberries with a rosé.”“The overall aesthetic is simple, plain and clean, which translates to what’s in the glass. It’s a very clean glass of wine. I think with the notable acidity in the wine, it would be lovely with some rich cheese and crackers, french fries, crab cakes or a lobster roll. But it’s also easy to drink on its own. There’s a little bit of fire on the finish from the alcohol if you let it linger in your mouth too long. I’m not a fan of that. You want all of the flavours to melt together. You want them to combine and play off of each other, compliment each other.”
“When you take that final sip of rosé, you should get the fruit flavours, and I got a little bit of heat on the back. It’s not the greatest thing to have that be the sensation of the finish in your mouth. $30 feels like a fair price point for this wine. You have a tasty product and nice labelling, the whole package makes sense to me.”
“It’s better than I thought it was going to be. I’d like to see the ABV [alcohol content] be a tad lower.”
Since I’m on the wagon, I’m not going to taste-test the wine, but I believe it when wine professionals praise the taste, just as I believe it when people remark on how the wine is stronger than they expected. I’d love to know Meghan’s rationale for the higher-than-usual alcohol content. Maybe she simply prefers a stronger rosé! It also appears to be a consistent theme: wine professionals are genuinely surprised by how much they like the As Ever rosé, and when they discover how good it is, they rush to give someone other than Meghan credit for the taste. Something similar happened when the NY Post (another Murdoch-owned outlet) organized a blind taste-test.
There is video, this is the short version edited, what does the comments in the end tells you🤭#AsEverRosé is just way too good… they tried https://t.co/TKZke6Qr8q pic.twitter.com/uS1evapapK
— Sayid 🃏 (@SayidMet) July 16, 2025
Photos courtesy of As Ever’s IG.
Any sommelier worth their reputation would be very careful dissing this wine because the wine world is small and I’m sure there’s a highly experienced winemaker behind this rosé (like behind Chateau Miraval) who made this blend.
As for this:
“ The addition of cabernet sauvignon to the blend is so interesting to me, because it’s such an expensive grape”
Really?
Did Dana Beninanti think that Meghan was stomping the grapes herself? I thought it was clear that she’d partnered with another winery to make her rose? I would have loved to see her partner with the McBride Sisters, one of the few black-owned wineries in Napa Valley.
“Overall to me, this is a wine made by expert marketers, not by Meghan.”
Yep. That line was unnecessary and snarky. Bc ummm. No, Meghan did have something to do with the making of the wine but no she was not crushing every grape herself.
Yeah, that line was definitely included because this woman does not like Meghan, even if she likes her wine. There was another article with similar criticism – remember we all started saying Meghan should be like Lucy in the grapes, lol. that must be the new go-to. “well its good but its not like she made it herself.” okay, and??
i’m going to chill a bottle for tomorrow night and read my book and drink rose.
Becks, there was a clip on SM of Emma Grede on that horrid Loose Woman show and they were trying to press her for info on Meghan and one of the snarky women from the show said something like well it’s not like Meghan is the one actually making the jam. And Emma shut it down by replying, well, do you think I’m the one sewing all the knickers that I sell? It was a smart and funny response. Even the snarky woman had to accept it and say good answer.
I’m sure Angelina and Brad or SJP picked and stomped the grapes themselves, just like KC3 personally supervised the making of the duchy jams in Highgrove’s kitchen while Camilla was taste testing the sparkling wine herself. Eyeroll.
Well that didn’t work for the British media now did it. The tasters for the most part really liked it!! Of course they got their digs in but the seemed to enjoy the wine
Funnily enough the only bad review comes from……the Daily Hate Mail.
Honestly I feel like they do their guaranteed bad reviews just so that they can do future reporting saying that everything that she did received ” mixed reviews”.
Show was in the top 10 and 40 countries, and sets tik tok trends for weeks at a time? Oh but the financial times didn’t like it so it got ” mixed reviews”. Blind taste test rave about the complexity of your raspberry spread? Oh but the Daily Mail New York office didn’t like it. Master sommelier compliment the fruit notes and blend of your first alcoholic venture? It was too strong for the DMs taste testers.
She can’t have any universal successes. She has to be divisive, unpopular, garnering mixed reviews.
The British press’ obsession with Meghan and what she does knows no bounds. But I’m sure Meghan’s team is grateful for the free promotion.
It really has become pathological. Meghan choosing peace instead of kissing the behinds of these loons has been traumatizing to them. They can’t penetrate or destroy her. They’re stunned and bitter about it.
The fact that they have to purchase from Meghan to review her product is hysterical to me, lol. The same papers that bash her and make money from doing it have to get product shipped all the way from the states to review it. Putting money in her pocket. Boy how the tables have turned. No wonder they’re so angry. I bet it angered them to see her send it to various editors in the states as well. That why the NYPost did a review, they want to be apart of the club, lol.
LOL These taste testers/sommeliers are all over the place. Alone! Paired! They’re very suggestible. Only a blind test counts.
It never fails that people have to minimize Meghan’s contribution. They will swear up and down they don’t have any issue with her, that they haven’t been influenced by media narratives, that they don’t pay attention to ” that stuff”. And yet it’s always reflected and how they need to minimize and express surprise that an incredibly intelligent, successful, well-educated woman would produce good work.
Also, the British media is pathetic. This isn’t even for sale in your country. You have no idea if it even will be for sale in your country at any point in the future, why do you need to review this? Do they also review food that’s available for purchase in Japan but nowhere else?
Just one thing I would add to your post is that they only resort to minimizing Meghan’s role in her product ONLY when they cannot in good conscience call it a bad product. If Meghan’s products were not palatable or of poor quality, these same people would be falling over themselves to blame Meghan — and only Meghan — for the taste, the containers, the labels, and the shipping.
Overall good reviews. I have to laugh at the NY Post critics – it’s strawberry, it’s cherry, it’s tropical, it’s coconut, it’s bananas, it’s like cognac…
What came to my mind when I read this hit piece, was witchcraft. In Africa witchcraft is often described as something that is done in the dark or in secret, and the target only feels the effects and never knows where the attack came from.
This is the first time, I’ve read something and I could connect the 2. They’re performing witchcraft, and they’re dressing it as “critic”, “review”. However, the intended results are the same as witchcraft as described in Africa. It is to destroy, and to then laugh at the victim.
Then commiserate and pass blame to something or someone else.
Western witchcraft is interesting.
Not sure you could call it a hit piece. There were some snarky takes but overall the reviews were positive and the only real criticism is the high alcohol content. I’m sure the intent by the Times was to discredit Meghan but on the whole the professional sommeliers had more positive than negative things to say about the wine.
It’s a hit piece, it’s even more obvious because they knew it was her wine. Look at the New York Post review, they were all complementary until, it was revealed, it’s her wine.
We are in 2025, we will not pretend to see hit pieces.
@jennifer so an article where one reviewer gave it 9.5 out of 10 called it wonderful and said it was ‘a steal at $30’ is a hit piece? Um, I guess we have different ideas what a hit piece is. Words used to describe it by other sommeliers included yummy, a tasty product, a fair price point. Hardly the words that would be included in a hit piece.
Is anyone else having fedex delivery issues? My shipment was originally had a delivery date of Wednesday. Then it got pushed to Thursday but then sat in IL all day. Late last night it went back to ‘we’ll have a delivery date when it’s moving again.’ Now it’s in PA. And still no updated delivery date. I’m worried it’s somehow going to get cancelled altogether. I also don’t have days to sit around waiting because it needs a signature upon delivery!
Come on, fedex! Mama needs her rose!
So my delivery date shifted a few times – it was supposed to be monday and then ended up being wednesday. once it was out for delivery, they gave me a delivery window and it came right in the middle of that. fingers crossed for you!!
Thanks, Becks! That’s good to hear.
And was it cold packed or anything? I’m worried about it being stuck in hot warehouses with this heat we’ve been having (or does that not affect the wine?).
Hoping it comes today or tomorrow 🤞🏽
@SussexWatcher, I read from someone who experienced the same issue and they called the delivery company and reminded them that the mail theft is a federal crime, after that their delivery started moving 😭😭
Those sommelier’s act as though Meghan did not suggest what combinations she wanted in her Rośe to produce the product she wanted. At least from her days of authoring The Tig, Meghan has been a wine connoisseur. This Rośe is all her.
Without a doubt, As Ever products were all Meghan’s efforts. She fine-tuned the fruit spread recipes, so did the cookie & crepe mix; she selected the variety of plants that she approved to go into her teas; so was the Rosé. Of course she worked with the experts, but the final blend of this wine is hers.
As for the alcohol content, it’s listed clearly on the bottle. Yes, it’s a high alcohol content wine, but some sommeliers acted like they have never tasted hard liquor before. Some people’s “unconscious bias” toward Meghan are/were strong.
would go great with a “Sunday roast with stuffing, Yorkshire pudding and cranberry sauce”
–said nobody ever. the whole point is a light and fruity wine, meant to be enjoyed on warm days with light fare, not some overcooked English slop.
How many taste tests are they going to have of Meghan’s wine, or her spreads or whatever other products she puts out? It speaks to their own ingrained prejudices that they think she’d put out an inferior product. Why are they so surprised it’s good? There is nothing in her work history that does not show her commitment to excellence. This woman has been all about food and wine and chefs since her Tig days. Her character on Suits was a foodie back in the first season, obviously influenced by Meghan herself. I hope she can eventually scale up to sell this retail or to restaurants. Anyway, my rosé is chilling, ready to enjoy.
The higher alcohol level is not an accident. Rather, it is consistent with higher quality wines in Napa and Sonoma. Those levels rose in recent years because the serious wine critics have seemed to prefer it that way and rate higher those labels that do, particularly the reds. So the addition of Cabernet to the blend may reflect this. Also probably means she is teamed up with a serious wine maker used to appealing to the wine critics. And writers.
FedEx finally delivered my wine. I hope overheating in the delivery truck does not adversely affect it. I am letting my 3 bottles acclimate to air conditioning before I put one of them in the refrigerator for chilling. I am just relieved to finally receive them.
Oh, I forgot to mention that the box was left by my front door 3 hours later than the quoted delivery window. No one knocked on the door or rang the door bell or requested a signature. So basically I was afraid to leave the house all day, in case I missed signing for the delivery.