LA VIE, EN ROSÉ

Jeany Cronk, the brains behind the Mirabeau rosé wine brand, invites us into her family's Provençal idyll

- INTERVIEW: MELANIE MACLEOD PHOTOS: SOPHIE BELLARD

Moving to France to make wine in the idyllic Provençal countryside is something many people dream of, but 52-year-old Jeany Cronk has made it a reality.

In 2009 Jeany, along with her husband, Stephen, and their three children, swapped southwest London for the south of France, with the dream of creating a premium rosé wine.

Sixteen years on, Mirabeau rosé is stocked by supermarkets across the UK and is served at Wimbledon and Goodwood. Last year, the business reported revenues of more than £4m.

As for Jeany and her family, life at Domaine Mirabeau – a bastide, or Provençal manor house, into which they moved in 2019 – appears just as rosy, although it took years of work to reach this point.

LEAP OF FAITH

"Moving to Provence was the result of ten years of discussions between Stephen and I," Jeany says. "I came up with a thousand reasons not to move - we didn’t speak enough French, we didn’t have enough money and so on – but there was never going to be the perfect moment.

"When we did eventually make the move [to Cotignac, in Provence], it seemed sudden to others, but we'd been through years of family debates about it. And despite that, it was still a hard landing. We were not super-prepared, but we got stuck into the community right away."

Although the couple had no experience of making wine, Stephen, 61, had previously worked as a wine importer and merchant in the UK. Together, they focused on finding the best vineyards to work with, before setting up their own brand.

Mirabeau soon won fans in the UK, but the ultimate Provençal family home proved more elusive.