While Wallpaper* is celebrating its 30th anniversary – not least with a trio of guest editors in the October 2026 issue, and 30 cakes by 30 creative friends – Whispering Angel is hot on its heels, turning 20 this year. So when the Wallpaper* team headed to London’s newly launched Park Hyatt Residences for an evening to mark our own milestone, it seemed fitting to raise a glass of 20th-anniversary rosé while we were at it.
Fresh and delicate, Whispering Angel’s 20th Vintage felt smooth and silky, with a crisp, citrus finish – perfect for our end-of-summer soirée.
Back in 2006, the label’s founder, Sacha Lichine, and the late Patrick Léon, former technical director of Château Mouton Rothschild, wanted to usher in a global rosé renaissance.
Twenty years on, the collectible anniversary bottle features Lichine’s signature alongside the Whispering Angel brand mark – the ‘angels’ of Château d’Esclans. The logo and the brand's name are inspired by cherubic figures that feature in the Provençal wine estate’s private chapel and apparently ‘whispered’ to Lichine.
A French wine with an English name is rare, but it’s perhaps this cultural neutrality that helped propel it to success – that and its easily drinkable nature.
Bruno Yvon, the general manager at Château d'Esclans, agrees: ‘The name set an agreeable theme with which people could readily identify. Introducing rosé, a category that 20 years ago was unknown, while creating a quality wine that was fresh, elegant and balanced, contributed to captivating the world.’
Whether enjoyed in its native Provence or overlooking the London skyline, Whispering Angel can be summed up in two words, says Yvon: ‘crisp and quaffable’. And as the evening sunshine turned to night, we had to agree.
Whispering Angel 20th Vintage Limited-Edition is £110 and available at selfridges.com