“I wasn’t this City whiz kid who’d made millions. We had to sell our house to start this.”

Mirabeau founders Stephen and Jeany Cronk tell db how they hustled their way to the top of the rosé ladder.

Sarah Neish, Drinks Business

According to the Cronks they found breaking into the world of Provence rosé producers challenging, but not opaque.

“It’s competitive, of course, in the region, but we’re also really supportive of each other,” says Jeany. Doors were far from closed to the newcomers and the pair are effusive about the fact that had it not been for the advice of their neighbours there were times when they may have floundered.

“Part of being smart is admitting when you’re not smart,” says Jeany. “A lot of it has been learning on the job.”

The fact that the pair weren’t heirs to a giant family fortune, or custodians of groaning offshore bank accounts, also helped to smooth their path with members of the local wine community.

“I wasn’t this City whiz kid who’d made millions. We had to sell our house to start this,” Stephen tells db. He’d had a small wine import business in the early ‘90s, which he wound down due to economic recession, and subsequently worked in telecommunications.

“We had a lot more skin in the game than other people,” concurs Jeany, who says that rosé trends have changed significantly since Mirabeau first broke onto the market.

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