Whispering Angel. The bottle does the talking.
Whispering Angel sells nearly 5 million bottles of rose a year. Twenty years ago, premium rose had to be invented before they could sell a single bottle.
THE GIST ON WHISPERING ANGEL: "The Bottle Does the Talking"
What is Whispering Angel?
A rose from Provence in France, started 20 years ago by Sacha Lichine. He sold his family's grand Bordeaux estate and bought a run-down Provence property to make rose. At the time, that was a weird thing to do.
Rose was the wine your mum drank in the garden when no one was looking. Cheap, slightly sweet and slightly embarrassing. Posh rose didn't really exist.
How did they invent premium rose?
Whispering Angel was pale and bone dry, in a fancy bottle, and they spent a decade convincing the Hamptons and the South of France that drinking rose was actually cool.
By 2015, rose all day was a thing. By 2019, LVMH had bought a majority stake for 140 million euros.
How did it get so big?
Production went up to 5 million bottles. Most luxury wines can't get bigger without losing their core or making the product rubbish. They did it by treating the brand as the product. The actual wine was almost secondary.
Who else did this?
This is how the biggest brands of this century grow. Red Bull made energy drinks a thing. Patagonia made eco-luxury a thing. Whispering Angel made pink wine a thing. None of them really had competition. Now there are loads of premium roses, and they still don't.
Is rosé a proper wine?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
Who started Whispering Angel?
Sacha Lichine, who sold his family's Bordeaux estate and bought a run-down Provence property to make rose.
When did LVMH buy in?
By 2019 LVMH had bought a majority stake for 140 million euros.
What do Red Bull and Patagonia have in common with it?
Each made a new category: energy drinks, eco-luxury and pink wine, and none really had competition.
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