Sting and Trudie Styler nearly bought Miraval

Rock star Sting and film producer Trudie Styler were almost tempted into buying Château Miraval in Provence in the 1980s, before Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie snapped it up.

Trudie Styler and Sting run the 350-hectare hilltop estate, Il Palagio, in the Tuscan town of Figline Valdarno in Chianti

Speaking exclusively to the drinks business for the cover interview of the May issue, Styler revealed that she and Sting were asked if they’d like to buy the château while staying there one summer.

“We know that Miraval estate very well and thought about buying it in the ‘80s. At the time it belonged to French jazz musician Jacques Loussier and boasted a recording studio.

“Sting was recording an album there one summer and I was trotting through the vineyards thinking how beautiful it was. We were asked if we were interested in buying it. We gave it some thought but ended up saying no as we had very small children back in the UK at the time.”

Sting and Trudie Styler were offered the chance to buy Château Miraval in Provence

In 2011, the château was bought by Hollywood power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who have enjoyed huge international success with their Miraval rosé. Despite separating in 2016, Pitt and Jolie continue to own and run the estate.

“When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie bought Miraval I was fascinated to try the wine as it’s always been a very nice rosé, which we were served at dinner when we stayed there,” Styler said.

In 1979 Pink Floyd put the finishing touches on The Wall at Studio Miraval, which has played host to the likes of AC/DC, The Cure, Muse and Courtney Love.

In 1997 Styler and Sting bought the 350-hectare estate, Il Palagio, in the Tuscan town of Figline Valdarno in Chianti, which dates back to 1530.

The pair produce seven
wines – four reds, a rosé, a Vermentino and a sparkler – from a mixture of estate-grown fruit and locally sourced grapes.

Styler is currently working on a label rebrand for the range that will make more of the estate’s 500-year heritage.

At the moment she and Sting are enjoying the peace and tranquility of life in lockdown at their UK base in Wiltshire. If they end up spending longer than anticipated there, Styler may consider planting vines at the property with a view to making English wine.

“We’ve come to a day of reckoning where we’re being forced to acknowledge that we’ve really screwed up the planet and need carbon emissions to be restricted in a serious way. With Britain on lockdown the air is cleaner and is buzzing with wildlife and vegetation, like nature has been given a reprieve,” she told db. The full interview with Trudie Styler appears in the May issue of the drinks business.