A few months ago, the Murdoch-owned Times of London organized a “blind taste test” of various jams and they included the Duchess of Sussex’s As Ever raspberry spread. I’m pretty sure the taste test was conducted in the Times’ New York office with various Times editors and reporters. The Times ended up posting the video online and it was sort of amazing how all of the taste-testers agreed that the As Ever jam was great and the best one out of the group. Well, now another Murdoch-owned outlet, the NY Post, has organized a blind taste-test of “celebrity rosés.” Guess which one was the favorite among wine connoisseurs in New York?
Meghan Markle’s acting career might have peaked with “Suits,” but she’s besting A-Listers with her new wine. In a blind taste test, Markle’s As Ever rosé beat out pink vinos from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, Sarah Jessica Parker and Jon and Jesse Bon Jovi.
“This wine is good enough to be poured at Buckingham Palace,” said Christian Bendek, a certified sommelier from downtown Brooklyn who was part of a panel of top New York City wine experts The Post assembled for a tasting of celebrity wines.
Markle’s As Ever 2023 Napa Valley rosé swirled into the crowded celeb stunt wine space on July 1 — on what would have been Princess Diana’s 64th birthday — selling out within an hour of its launch. The rosy sipper, which retails for $30 and is made from a blend of cabernet sauvignon, mourvedre, grenache and syrah grapes, is described on the As Ever website as having “soft notes of stone fruit” with “gentle minerality” and “reminiscent of the finest Provencal styles.”
Panelist Nikki McCutcheon, a sommelier and the wine director at Tao Group’s Cathedrale and Sake No Hanna, said the rich and complex wine is worth its $30 price tag.
“It has a touch of cherry red fruit on the finish,” she enthused. “This you could drink on its own or paired with food. It could pair very well with French, Mediterranean food. This one gets a star.”
Bendek described the wine as “coconut-ty, very tropical” and said it was more “interesting” than many celebrity entries.
The panel’s second favorite wine was Miraval Rosé Cotes de Provence ($24.99). The French vineyard was purchased by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in 2008 and has been a $500 million sticking point in their nasty divorce battle. But there’s no drama in the easy drinking wine.
“It’s really approachable. Nice minerality,” McCutcheon said of the widely available quaff, which is made with grenache, syrah and rolle grapes from the Provence region of France. Panelist Chris Miller, the managing partner at The Lamb’s Club and co-founder of the Times Square wine window, also deemed it an “approachable” summer sipper but said it “needs more of a backbone.”
Our panel also liked the aptly named Hampton Water ($25.99) from Jon Bon Jovi and son Jesse Bon Jovi, rating the rock star rosé third.
This is great. I’m surprised more Sussex-obsessed outlets with the time and resources aren’t doing the same. I guess they find it more lucrative to just scream like banshees about every little thing Meghan does without any kind of context. Like, I’ll admit – I had no idea that so many celebrities were doing rosé lines these days. The way people were carrying on, you’d think that Meghan was the first one. Anyway, it’s great that so many wine experts loved As Ever! I’m sure they’ll love her next offering too.
Photos courtesy of Netflix, As Ever’s IG.
As ever, Meghan has good taste. I wouldn’t expect anything less at this point. Loved the detail that it was good enough to be poured at Buckhingham Palace 😂
Just signed for my package. Driver had to scan my D/L. I asked him what FedEx was doing to ensure security of my private data. He had no clue. I stopped buying alcohol at one local (nationwide) grocer who demanded the scan. Grocer relented and allowed supervisor to just look at b-date, but by then I’d started shopping other places.
Years ago my wine club used UPS, who didn’t demand permanent copy of proof of age. With FedEx data security control is bigger problem because local P&D has been determined to be independent contractors. All it takes for someone to steal your ID is birthdate and one other piece of info. Irritated.
Just because my personal data has been carelessly ‘lost’ by hacked credit bureaus, health insurance companies, government agencies, retailers and service providers doesn’t mean I’m eager to repeat the experience. FedEx told me I could go to their pickup location to avoid getting personal data scanned and stored in some unknown data base with questionable security.
@kirk I wonder if it’s driver discretion. Or how much the driver actually cares about FedEx policy, because mine just asked me to verify my date of birth, didn’t ask to see any sort of ID.
@Dee(2), I haven’t ordered the wine yet. Will do next go around. I’m having a hard time seeing our FedEx driver asking us for our DL’s. He knows we are of age. Outside of the DL # and home address, there isn’t other info they can extract. Our SS #’s are what need to be protected.imo Battled recently with a potential vendor seeking out OUR business. Told him we’re not sharing certain information. You want the EIN. You want credit scores. You want business references from people we’ve been doing business with for over 20 years. You got it. The other stuff is bullshit.
Was close to saying, do you need the last results of my pap smear.
Now I want I really want to order to see how this DL stuff works out. I’m laughing because I’m imagining my husband saying, “With all the grays on my head do you really need to see my license?”.
Mine didn’t even ask for DOB. I was waiting for the truck to come bc I was so afraid of missing it (bc the pick up location for FedEx is a hike from my house) and when he arrived and I flung the door open, ready to sign, he was just like “yeah you’re good” and walked away. Didn’t even ask for my DOB or name or anything. I guess I really do look like 21 was a few decades ago LOL.
Love how the Duchess is able to make money off her haters. They first had to purchase the wine to write about it. Whether you love it or you hate it or even if they poured it down the drain, they had to buy it from her first. Cheers to the Haters 💲 🥂 Bitches! 🍷
Oh, I love this so much for her.
Well they still got their dig in with “she is competing with A listers. Glad hers came out on top!!!
Got my shipped notification the other day. I cannot wait to taste. Wine has always been my beverage of choice. Expect nothing less than excellence from a Meghan product.
My shipment came yesterday. I can’t wait to taste it, but trying to do it properly and let the wine settle for a couple of weeks after shipping. I also was lucky enough to score some flower sprinkles when they relaunched. No jam or honey, unfortunately.
My box arrives Friday by FedEx. I am so excited and am not even a rose fan.
This is great and I wonder how long the British media is going to continue to give bad reviews to everything she does, just to have other outlets give it great reviews? I mean it’s not like they’re concerned about journalistic integrity but you think they’d at least want to pretend that they don’t have negative reviews written for the next four years and will just change out the title of what they are reviewing.
I got mine on monday, and the Cherry taste does hit strongly in that first sip. Which is fantastic for me because that’s my favorite fruit. I have to say though, this is strong. I can usually put away two glasses no issue, and I had to stop at one. I still have half a bottle left and was thinking maybe I would try a Frose, and if that would lighten it up. But yeah if you aren’t a big drinker, I would say plan to go easy.
@dee(2) love the report from the field! Maybe it will be a better food wine for you?
I think I recall reading that it has a pretty high abv content for a rosé?
The only one I’ve tried of these was the Hampton Water – didn’t like it – too pale, too dry, not much to it. Good for her – was waiting for the press to do this.
Interesting how when the partiality and biases are removed she comes out on top. Those British outlets could never…or they did and would never admit she came out on top.
Well, British tabloids will never do a blind test. Daily Mail did a hack job.
They will! It’ll just be rigged so that M’s product doesn’t come out on top.
Supposed to be receiving my 3 As Ever bottles tomorrow! I am very excited!!
I love this for Meghan.
@Amy Bee … So do I! I hope she builds a sustainable empire for her Sussex family. Harry is working on it from his end as well. So happy for them after all the dire predictions from Isle de Saltines. 🙂
I’m glad that this came from the NY Post – a complete maga rag. No one can say it was rigged.
Yay Meghan!!
my Rose is out for delivery today! I’m so excited to try some this weekend.
Actual wine experts and sommeliers. Good for you, New York Post. People had their staff taste test. So, not doubt, the As ever rose is good and liked by regular drinkers and experts alike. Wish it were shipping internationally.
I’ve never had much Rosé (just the occasional glass at a summer lunch), I’m more of a red wine gal. But I’m hooked on this! As the reviewer said, it’s good with food, and good on its own. I only got 6 bottles (I could kick myself for not getting a case!), so I’m trying not to clean myself out too fast. I limit myself to one glass at a time. I did share 2 bottles at a family dinner, so now I’m selfishly hoarding the rest for myself! lol
I did like the IG story that said more is coming SOON! YAY!!!!! I love this for Meg SO MUCH!
I’m not surprised by this, Meghan has good taste and I’ll buy anything she is selling 😍Even if her product is not for you it’s never awful ❤️
I was not expected anything less from Meghan. She is intentional and excellent in all she does.
Everybody who knew Meghan from he Tig days knows that she was highly professional and was only promoting and collaboration with the best brands. She was doing interviews with the best chefs, she was promoting and writing about uncommon travelling locations, her humanitarian work, etc. – her blog stories were authentic and genuine, and her fans and followers loved her for her connectivity, advise, positive quotes, etc. She wasn’t gossiping, it was all positive vibes and creativity in one place.
She didn’t have 3M+ followers on IG at the time for being an airhead. Those numbers were huge at the time, given the fact that she was putting the side together all by herself, without a PR machinery behind her.
Most of her followers/now are returning Suits/The Tig fans, because they love her content then, and now her brand/products – not just because who she ends up marrying. Most don’t give a damn about royalty.
I got my text confirmation saying my order will come tomorrow and I have to sign for it with my ID. Excited!
Wonder if Charles’ rosé was in the blind-tasting line-up? Anyway, a big congrats to Meghan!
Mine is coming today also! I barely just got the notification yesterday so I’ll have to scramble a bit to make it home between the 12-4pm window fed ex gave me. I’m close to the shipping point so that must be the reason for the very short notice.
It’s annoying that Meghan gets so much scrutiny. Food magazines, critics may do taste tests but it’s obnoxious that general media feels to scrutinize everything Meghan does. The good thing is that the blind taste test always work in her favor. Although writers/critics make it obvious that bad reviews are because of hatred for Meghan, it makes it clear when objective views comes into play.
It annoyed me that these “wine experts” were surprised the winner is As Ever. (Check out the video in the Post’s article.) It just showed for none royal news watchers, their opinions are still influenced by what’s written on the daily publications. They had low expectations on Madame Duchess Meghan’s ability to put out top quality products.
The woman Royal News writer from InStyle got it. She said Meghan’s products will be good because Meghan knows she is under hugh scrutiny for everything.
I had to giggle at this:
“This wine is good enough to be poured at Buckingham Palace,” said Christian Bendek, a certified sommelier from downtown Brooklyn who was part of a panel of top New York City wine experts The Post assembled for a tasting of celebrity wines.
As if Buckingham Palace wasn’t filled with philistines who wouldn’t know good taste if it bit them in the derriere.
But hurray for Meghan!
What was it that dimwit AN Wilson was spouting about H&M being abandoned, alone and unloved…potentially going broke and desperate to return to the royal hell hole? 😳🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂
IN YOUR FACES rats 🐀!!
I’m so bummed that I was locked up with work and couldn’t get to buy any. Sounds like something I would love. Oh well, maybe the next batch.
Love this for Meghan! Eff off BM.