There was a time when the air was heavy with a sickly, sweet haze of celebrity perfumes. Rhianna, Taylor Swift, JLo, Katy Perry, the Beckhams all put their names to licencing deals and the ubiquitous fug of Christmas TV ads. It wasn’t very sophisticated.

Rosé wine is now furrowing its own celebrity grove but with one major difference…subtlety.

Rosé, celebrity, subtle? Surely a massive oxymoron.

Well, rosé has certainly cast-off snobbish shackles and is enjoying its time in the sun (UK sales up by a whopping 400% in May!).

But the true subtlety lies in how winemakers, distributors and celebrities are collaborating to develop new brands.

The old ways of brash celebrity endorsements have been jettisoned.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Joli aren’t emblazoned across Miraval. Nor Bon Jovi on his Hampton Water, nor Post Malone on Maison no. 9.

Even last week Cameron Diaz launched her stripped-back organic, vegan and “free from” wines under the label Avaline.

You get the feeling these are passion projects with a higher purpose than a quick bucks licensing deal.

So, what of Kylie Minogue’s entry to rosé last month? A collaboration with Benchmark Drinks.

Sometimes celebrities have an undisputable fit with a product. Rosé is a state of mind. It’s relaxed, carefree and easy to like – just like Kylie.

Kylie and rosé are an unquestionable match.

https://www.kylieminoguewines.com/about/

And whereas signatures on endorsed products can risk being tacky and cheap, Kylie’s branding by Studio Parr has a grace and simplicity to it.

But what particularly stands out is that Kylie’s rosé is not feigning to be more than it is. She’s not bought a vineyard. She’s not pretending to be an expert. She not preaching about purpose. Rosé is not her new pivot. She’s just having fun.

Like she did with dance music, Kylie has packaged up an emerging trend and made it accessible and sexy for the masses. Bottled in the iconic bottle made popular by Studio Miraval, it retails at Tesco for a respectable £9.

So, to completely misquote Shakespeare… a rosé by any other name would definitely not smell as sweet.

This is an impartial review. 

All photography from Mr Gray’s i-phone with a Cheshire backdrop.

For future reviews write to nick@mrgraybranding.com