After years of searching, the couple bought the vineyard for €25m in 2008. And were married there in 2014.
With the help of Rhône winemaker Marc Perrin, the vineyard became an established rosé producer.
However things have taken a turn for the worse. Jolie’s company Nouvel claims that Pitt acted like a “petulant child” while engaging in a “blatant money grab” at the property.
Adding Pitt “looted” the Château Miraval vineyard in Provence, spending millions of dollars on swimming pool renovations and a recording studio.
The two stars filed for divorce in 2016 after Jolie accused Pitt of a drunken attack on her and the couple’s children while on a private flight to the US. Pitt has denied the allegations.
Nouvel, a company through which Jolie previously owned a stake in the French winery, said in a filing to a court in California on Monday that it was owed more than $350m by Pitt and his partners. The company alleged they “engaged in increasingly outrageous actions to retain control” of Miraval, while allegedly “stripping [the rosé producer] of its assets”.
Further claims by Nouvel’s lawyers allege Pitt has “masterminded a so-far-successful plan to seize de facto control of Château Miraval. Pitt is accused of feeezing Shefler’s Stoli out of running the company by refusing to appoint neutral directors to the board of the Luxembourg-based entity through which the vineyard operates.
Pitt’s lawyers declined to comment. Pitt also maintains he still owns 60 per cent of the estate, claiming he only “nominally” transferred 10 per cent to Jolie in 2013.
Nouvel’s legal team said Jolie had initially tried to sell her share of Miraval to Pitt, but walked away because he made the deal contingent on her signing a non-disparagement agreement.
They further alleged that Pitt has wasted “millions on vanity projects, including more than $1m on swimming pool renovations, building and rebuilding a staircase four times, and spending millions to restore a recording studio”. They added that Pitt spent “nearly a million euros a year constantly rebuilding stone walls using stone masons from Croatia”, and close to €3m on unspecified expenses such as “garment work”.
Nouvel’s lawyers disputed that Pitt had been deeply devoted to viticulture. “Pitt is an actor, not a winemaker. He deals in illusions, not dirt and grapes,” they wrote.
