Brad Pitt Accuses Angelina Jolie of Being “Vindictive” in Miraval Winery Deal

The war of the rosés continues. 

Brad Pitt has made new accusations against Angelina Jolie concerning the winery they once shared. The complaint was filed on June 1, as per CBS News, who viewed the documents, and it accuses Jolie of attempting “to seize profits she had not earned and returns on an investment she did not make.” Pitt goes on to describe his ex-wife’s actions as “vindictive.”

The legal tussle surrounding Jolie’s sale of shares in the Chateau Miraval Winery goes back to October 2021, when she cut a deal with Tenute del Mondo, owned by the Luxembourg-based company Stoli, but controlled by, in the words of Pitt’s legal documents, Yuri Shefler, “an oligarch in the Russian Federation.” Shefler, who has Russian, British, and Israeli citizenship, and lives with his former Victoria’s Secret model wife Tatiana Kovylina in Switzerland, had attempted to make the purchase from Pitt beforehand, but he was denied, according to Pitt’s claim.  

Pitt is hoping to halt the sale—which he says he learned about in the press—saying in the new document that making wine has become his “passion” and that under his guidance and that of partner Marc Perrin, the winery has grown into a “multimillion-dollar global business and one of the world’s most highly regarded makers of rosé wine.” (Even back in 2013, V.F.‘s investigation gave Miraval’s rosé a good review: “They’re not celebrity vintners; Brad and Angelina are real vintners.”)

Pitt further claims that, as per their divorce filing, neither side would sell shares in Miraval without the other’s consent. Furthermore, Pitt’s documents state that when they discussed divorce in 2017, Jolie said she would only “take what she put in.” Pitt claims that it was he who “invested money and sweat equity into the home and business.”

V.F. has reached out to representatives of both Pitt and Jolie’s for further comment, but did not immediately hear back.

In addition to the winery, Chateau Miraval hosts a home and a recording studio. The couple had a long-term lease on the 1,200-acre estate from 2008 but purchased it for $60 million in 2012. Some of the structures on the grounds, which are positioned on an old Roman road in Correns, France, date back to the 17th century, including olive groves, pine forests, fountains, a private lake, a moat, and a helicopter pad. (That was added more recently, naturally.) It is believed that St. Thomas Aquinas visited Miraval in 1252. 

The recording studio built on the grounds by Jacques Loussier is no mere joint where you can cut a demo. Some of the legends who laid down tracks there include Pink Floyd (while working on The Wall), Elton John, Sting, Bryan Ferry, Shirley Bassey, Courtney Love, Belinda Carlisle, Morrissey, Steve Winwood, Queen, Wham!, Muse, the Gipsy Kings, AC/DC, the Cranberries, Rammstein, the Cure, Judas Priest, and Yes. “The Sweetest Taboo” by Sade was recorded there, for heaven’s sake, so you can see why this is such a fight!

The studio was dormant for years, but Pitt and producer Damien Quintard announced he would revive it in 2021. On Instagram, shots from the interior were listed as a “work in progress” just a few weeks ago. 

The Pitt-Jolie divorce saga first began when she filed paperwork on September 19, 2016, and has dragged along ever since. (Behold: a quite detailed accounting here.) They were declared officially single in April 2019, prior to a finalized divorce, in a legal maneuver called “bifurcation.” In February of this year, then-16-year-old Shiloh Jolie-Pitt made headlines when she suggested that her parents “move on.”