You and your friends
In boxes of tens
Cool to the touch
You warm me so much
The white to your left
And the red to your right
Are all that I’d seen
‘Til I realised
The love that I seek
Lies right in between
– From Rosé by The Feeling
This episode of TRI-POD, The Moodie Davitt Report video podcast series in association with The SEVA Group, features Stephen Cronk, a man who along with wife Jeany sold the family house in London to pursue an unlikely dream of creating a great wine brand in the south of France.
The wine brand is Mirabeau, a French rosé wine now complemented by a highly successful gin of the same name. Today, some 13 years after Stephen and Jeany exited England and relocated to the village of Cotignac in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region (taking their three young children, all under eight and with little French, out of the English school system), Mirabeau is a stunning success story.
Today it ranks as the best-selling Provence rosé brand in the UK and is available in over 50 countries. In Australia and The Netherlands it also ranks among the top three in its category, while travel retail is now the subject of a big push both for Mirabeau rosé and the gin.
In this episode of TRI-POD, Stephen talks about trading in the comfort and security of a well-paid executive role in the telecoms industry for a risk-it-all decision to start a wine company in a foreign country.
Talking about is breakthrough listing (with upscale UK supermarket group Waitrose), Stephen notes, “Buyers watching this programme – you’ve got no idea of the influence you have on businesses like ours.”
Stephen has many strings to his rosé-hued bow. Have you ever found yourself with a bottle of wine but without that crucial implement to open it, the corkscrew? Have no fear, as Stephen explains, help is at hand. Or in this case, at foot.
As usual, we close out the episode by taking Stephen to our resident TRI-POD desert island. What duty free item would he choose to sip on while staring up at the night sky? What song would make him smile or (spoiler alert) gently weep? What book would he choose that is aligned with his thoughts on regenerative viticulture. As for his three dinner party guests on the island, let’s just say the laughter would flow just as freely as the Mirabeau.
And finally, where would a man who has found his own kind of paradise in the south of France choose to go, courtesy of TRI-POD’s newly formed budget carrier (pictured)? Click on the YouTube video to find out, to discover how Mirabeau is truly in the pink, and to hear a narrative that is sure to have you reaching for a nicely chilled rosé. Mirabeau, of course.
Note: Would you like to appear with Roger and Martin on TRI-POD? Drop Martin Moodie a line at Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com and we will be in touch.
