Carla Bruni, the top model, chantuese and former First Lady of France, puts down her glass of rosé and prepares to sing. We are in a rooftop hotel bar overlooking downtown Manhattan. Before her first song, she shares a few thoughts on the Provence estate behind the wine in her glass, the fabled Château d’Estoublon, founded in 1489—its olive oil, one of France’s leading luxury brands.
“I would like to tell you about a place that has captured my heart: Estoublon,” she says. “It’s an estate where the light of the Alpilles floods the vineyards and olive trees. The castle is magnificent, the gardens enchanting.”
Her voice is pure velvet as she lights into a melodic take on Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence. Her hips sway as she moves onto one of her own French hits. Her husband, former President Nicolas Sarkozy, reclines on a couch, beaming with pride.
The intimate concert marks the official U.S. debut of Bruni’s first foray into the wine world, with a bright new rosé, Roseblood, from Château d’Estoublon, in partnership with French winemaking legend Jean-Guillaume Prats— formerly of Cos d’Estournel, Château Lafite Rothschild, and head of the global wine portfolio of LVMH.
A few years ago, Prats joined forces with one of the richest men in France, Stéphane Courbit, the media titan who also owns the luxury Les Airelles hotel brand, to purchase the iconic château with its 750 acres—then best known for its olive oil and breathtaking Provencal setting.
“At first we thought we’d do a business around olive oil and hospitality,” says Prats. “Then three years ago, we thought, ‘why don’t we try to do something around wine?’” Prats put together a young winemaking team. Courbit, who knew Bruni, brought on the former First Lady to add a feminine touch.
“When we first met with Bruni in Paris, her husband came into the room and said, ‘I want to be a part of this story too. I’ll carry Carla’s luggage if I must,” says Prats. You couldn’t say no to the former President. And so, Sarkozy came on board too, as an advisor and investor.
The couple is hands-on with everything at Château d’Estoublon. Bruni engages in rosé blending sessions and in olive oil marketing. “The creation of wine, in many ways, is similar to that of music,” she says. “It’s a creative process, a harmony of the senses.” Prats is sometimes on the phone with the former President 10 times a day.
To oversee the Roseblood blend, last year Prats recruited winemaker Victor Joyeaux from Cloudy Bay winery in New Zealand. Joyeaux has crafted a Grenache-dominant blend with nuance and freshness from the classic Provence grape trio of Syrah, Cinsault and Rolle. The wine, very reasonably priced at just $27, expresses white floral and raspberry aromas and delightful hints of strawberry, melon and white peach on the palate with a touch of minerality on its fresh finish.
“It has been a great journey creating a rosé from scratch,” says Prats, who is overseeing a global launch in 40 countries. In response to whether the Goth name Roseblood was drawn from a Bruni song lyric, he responds, “We came up with 25 names for the rosé and, remarkably, the only name everyone remembered was Roseblood.” The wine, he says, is already a big presence at the beach clubs of Marbella and St. Tropez. The Hamptons is next.
