In February 2022, Pitt sued Jolie for breach of implied contract, alleging that she unlawfully and secretly sold her stake to a subsidiary of spirits conglomerate Stoli, despite their implied agreement that they would sell their stakes only with the other’s consent.
Jolie then filed a countersuit against Pitt later that year, saying that she sold her stake in Chateau Miraval because he had shut her out from operating or profiting from the highly successful wine business after she filed for divorce in 2016.
She said in a court filing that she initially planned to sell her part of the ownership to Pitt, but the talks fell apart after she refused Pitt’s request to sign a nondisclosure agreement that would have barred her from speaking about Pitt’s alleged abuse outside of court.
Since Pitt and Jolie purchased Chateau Miraval in 2008 through their investment companies, they had poured millions of dollars into building the wine brand.
Their improvements to the property and their partnership with prominent French winemaker Marc Perrin in 2013 paid off: They became one of the “most highly regarded makers of rosé wine” and profits jumped from about US$1 million in 2013 to roughly US$15.6m in 2022, according to court documents.
The couple then wed in a private ceremony at the property’s chapel in 2014 after about a decade together, surrounded by a small group of friends and family.
Jolie later said in a court filing that their personal relationship suffered, and Pitt developed an alcohol addiction that “contributed to his increasingly destructive behaviour” toward the family.
She filed for divorce in 2016 after a private flight from the winery to Los Angeles, during which she alleged that Pitt was physically and emotionally abusive to her and their children.
The FBI investigated the incident but later said it would not investigate further, and the US attorney did not bring charges against Pitt.
The Chateau Miraval fight is separate from the divorce proceedings, which resulted in a default declaration filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, marking the end of one of Hollywood’s longest divorces. But Jolie said she associates the place with “painful and traumatic memories” in a court filing, further detailed in an email obtained by Vanity Fair.
“Above all, it is the place we brought the twins home to, and where we were married over a plaque in my mother’s memory,” Jolie reportedly wrote to Pitt in 2021. “A place … where I thought I would grow old ... But it is also the place that marks the beginning of the end of our family.”
