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Pitt-Jolie Miraval battle heads to mediation

28 July 2023 By James Evison

The so-called ‘War of the Rosé’ between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie looks to be heading for mediation out of court, following a long-running legal dispute regarding the ownership of Château Miraval.

According to The Times, legal documents sent last week show Angelina Jolie is willing to take part in a settlement conference to resolve the dispute.

A provisional administrator has now been appointed for a commercial court in Draguignan, France to protect the winemaking business until an agreement has been reached between the two parties, with the Perrin family remaining in control of wine production.

It follows a high-profile legal dispute between the former couple, who bought the 1,300-acre estate in Provence for €20m for their family in 2008. They quickly set around turning the winery into a large-scale business with the Perrin family, who own Château de Beaucastel in the Rhône valley. By 2013, the business made €1m in profits and reached €15m (£12.8m) by last year, creating not only wines but also a skincare range called ‘Le Domaine’.

The embittered legal battle dates back to October 2021, and is based on Jolie’s sale of shares in the Provence winery Château Miraval when she made a deal with Tenute del Mondo, owned by the Luxembourg-based company Stoli.

The company is owned by Yuri Shefler who, in the words of Pitt’s legal documents, is described as “an oligarch in the Russian Federation” and a man who Pitt has claimed attempted to buy Miraval from him before, which he declined.

Pitt has also been reported to have made further claims that, as per his divorce filing with Jolie, neither side would sell shares in Miraval without the other’s consent. In a court filing in a multimillion dollar case last year, Pitt suggested that his ex-wife’s decision to sell the Provencal winery to Shefler is “violating [his] contractual rights” and claimed that she “contributed nothing” to Château Miraval.

Only a fortnight ago, court papers filed by representatives of Jolie’s former investment company accused Pitt of dealing in “illusions, not grapes”.

Attorneys from Nouvel, Jolie’s former investment company, claim that Pitt has “followed a script that may play in Hollywood, but not a court of law” in his “increasingly outrageous actions to retain control over Château Miraval”.

“While he no doubt visited the vineyards to admire the work of the French labourers who actually made the business successful, Pitt is no vigneron,” read the court filings.

“Pitt is an actor, not a winemaker. He deals in illusions, not dirt and grapes.”

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