Meghan Markle’s new wine is still on sale a week after launch but a source told Newsweek they are “glad it hasn’t sold out.”
The Duchess of Sussex has now had four product launches, three of which sold out in minutes, leaving most potential customers unable to sample her goods.
Her latest though, a 2024 Napa Valley rosé, has now been on sale for 9 days, since Tuesday, August 5, and stock is showing no sign of running out yet.
A Sussex source told Newsweek the latest batch was “going VERY well. Biggest stock of product yet, obviously trying to do everything we can to ensure as many people as possible can experience the product so glad it hasn’t sold out, yet!”
Why It Matters
Some may think selling out quickly is a good thing but it comes with a sting in the tail if a company’s entire stock is sold out for almost the entire year, running the risk that curious customers lose interest.
And Meghan’s business has become even more important since the Sussexes renogiatated with Netflix to a “first look deal” that gives the streamer first refusal on their projects but without the guaranteed mega annual payday they had enjoyed for five years.
What People Are Saying
Nick Ede, a U.K. brand and culture expert, told Newsweek it was good the wine had not sold out but that Meghan should look in future to increase supply to get her bottles into supermarkets.
“Optically, although we’re seeing it’s not sold out it is kind of a good thing because when you go to a shop you want to be able to buy the product,” he said. “So hopefully they’ve realized that actually they’ve got to have more inventory and that might be why it hasn’t sold out or maybe they’ve actually got their stock right.
“And that ‘sell out’ sensational marketing actually needs to now evolve and they need to get into a retail outlet where you can buy the product because otherwise you’re going to disappoint your customers.
“If you think about how many people buy wine, we don’t just buy three bottles and that’s it. We buy wine—especially in the summer—on quite a regular basis and if you become a fan of it you want to be able to get it easily.
“It’s kind of a good thing that we have product available to buy if people are a fan of it.”
Meghan set out her own views on the sell out product launches on the Aspire With Emma Grede podcast in June: “Well, we can restock what we had at those same quantities but then I’ll have another sell out and I don’t want that for people.
“I think scarcity is great if it happens organically at the onset but at a certain point, even being consumer-minded, I would be fatigued if that kept happening and I was going to a website.”
What to Know
Meghan’s first product run with As Ever was in April when she offered jams, edible flower sprinkles, cookie mix and more.
The range sold out in under an hour, as did the second in June which was again made up of food produce.
She launched her first wine, a 2023 Napa Valley rosé, in July and again sold out in minutes to the new wine is her first to survive the initial rush.
The first wine was bottled at the Kunde Family Winery, in California, using grapes from the Fairwinds Estate, which was ravaged by wildfires in 2020.
What Happens Next
Meghan and her team have been working on a new sparkling wine to add to her collection, with sources previously saying they hope it may even hit her online shop before the end of summer.
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
