The Journey

Our first meeting and tasting with Ray, our Master of Wine, took place in August 2025.

We already knew the kind of rosé we wanted to create, the taste profile we both loved, the colour, the feel, and the price point we wanted to achieve. The challenge was turning that vision into an actual wine.

At that first tasting, Ray presented us with ten different wines to help understand exactly where our preferences sat.

It was also the first time either of us had ever used a spittoon.

As wine drinkers, the idea of tasting wine only to spit it straight back out felt completely unnatural. But considering it was 10:30am on a Thursday morning, it was probably the sensible option.

Once we'd narrowed down the direction of the wine itself, we headed straight to the supermarkets. We spent hours looking at bottle shapes, labels, branding, colours, and packaging, discussing what we were drawn to, what felt premium, and equally, what didn't.

While Ray went away to begin sourcing wines, we started building the brand.

Our very first call was to our younger sister, Stephanie Jayne.

After countless sketches and design ideas, the iconic female figure that now sits on the label began to take shape. From there, we worked with a wine bottle designer to bring everything together. For months, we were convinced we were using a traditional Bordeaux bottle, until, right at the last minute, we changed direction entirely.

Then came another major moment in the journey.

Ray returned with two new wine samples for us to taste. Neither felt quite right. Then he pulled out a third bottle.

Somewhere in the conversation, a joke was made about "thirty-three and a third" (Ray's Irish). 333 is known as an angel number, symbolising encouragement, alignment, and reassurance that you're on the right path.

Our grandad was also called Ray.

At that point, it genuinely felt like the stars were aligning.

That third wine became La Femme est Magique.

From there, we agreed quantities, production timelines, and delivery dates. We even carried out blind taste tests with family against another well-known rosé, and La Femme est Magique won comfortably every time, which gave us real confidence we were creating something special.

Then things changed again.

Ray wasn't fully satisfied with the original vineyard, and issues around canning production meant we had to pivot late in the process. The vineyard changed, timelines shifted, and suddenly we found ourselves in a position where we hadn't actually tasted the final version of the wine and the deadline was getting tight.

With thousands of bottles and cans already on order, we had to put complete trust in Ray and move forward.

He sent us videos throughout production as everything was happening in Provence, and even brought two bottles back in his suitcase from Aix-en-Provence for us to try ourselves. Ironically, those bottles never made it to us… they went straight into the International Wine Challenge instead.

Which meant we didn't actually taste the finished wine until the Arctic lorry arrived with the full delivery in April 2026.

As you can imagine, it was nerve-racking.

But from the very first sip, we knew.

The wine tasted even better than the original sample we fell in love with. We were completely overwhelmed and after the second bottle, probably slightly on the floor too.

It exceeded every expectation we had.

And from that moment, we couldn't wait for everyone else to finally try it too.

Katie & Lucy