Whispering Angel dupes: we tried 7 of the best rosé wines to find an affordable alternative
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It’s one of the world’s best-known — and loved — wines, but Whispering Angel comes at a price.
Made by French winery Château d’Esclans in Provence, it first hit the market in 2006 and transformed the fortunes of rosé vino.
Once dismissed by wine experts as a poor relative to red and white, rosé has become a year-round must-have thanks to Whispering Angel’s smart marketing, complex flavours and A-list fans including Adele and Victoria Beckham.
It’s now the most recognisable rosé wine around, selling one million cases each year in 106 countries. It’s even credited with introducing pink vino to Americans, with Nielsen ranking Whispering Angel as the best-selling rosé wine in the US.
Perfectly pale pink in the glass, it’s made from red grapes including grenache, cinsault and vermentino and is loved for its rich red berry ripeness, floral notes and smooth, bone-dry finish.
It can be drunk with everything from seafood to salad but is a dream all on its own, ideally served cold on a sunny day.
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Yet at around £20 a bottle, it’s not an everyday wine unless you have a Beckham-sized budget. But — whisper it — there are some fantastic, similar-tasting vinos on the shelves so you won’t need to go without completely.
To help you find the perfect Whispering Angel dupe, we’ve sampled a range to see which one is the ultimate Provençal-style pink without the price tag.
Tesco Finest Provence Rosé
- Tesco Finest Provence Rosé, £9 from Tesco - buy here
Pros: Suitable for vegans, uses same grapes as Whispering Angel and comes from Provence
Cons: Like most rosés, it cannot be kept indefinitely so needs drinking within a year of buying
Rating: 5/5
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There’s not much to choose between this and a bottle of Whispering Angel.
Both are produced in Provence in the South of France so benefit from the hot summers and dry weather; both are fermented in temperature-controlled stainless-steel vats to preserve freshness and acidity; and both are made with similar red grapes, with the skin removed early to give that perfectly pale pink colour.
This one is made by winemaker Véronique Florentin at the Castel Frères winery, which was established by a group of siblings in 1949 and is now the third largest producer of French wines in the world market.
Its rosé for Tesco is an utter delight to drink. Not as floral as some of the other rosés we tested but with a clean sharpness, it’s deliciously fruity with punchy strawberry and redcurrant notes and even a hint of peach.
And all this comes with a truly angelic (sorry) price tag.
ABV: 13%, Bottle size: 75cl, Place of origin: France, Grape variety: Grenache, syrah, cinsault, carignan, mourvèdre
Chosen by Majestic Rosé 2022
- Chosen by Majestic Rosé 2022, £9.99 from Majestic - buy here
Pros: Bottle looks similar to Whispering Angel and similar grapes have been used, pale pink colour
Cons: Screw top may put some people off, not from Provence
Rating: 4.5/5
Provence is not the only French region producing super-pale pink vino.
Just next door in Languedoc, wine makers are using similar grapes grown in the same climate to produce rosé wines that taste almost identical to their more famous neighbour, but without the hefty price tag.
This one costs half as much as Whispering Angel and the price drops to an even more appealing £8.99 when you buy six bottles with Majestic Mix Six.
A blend of grenache and cinsault, it’s a beautifully refreshing wine with refined floral flavours, notes of peach and red fruit and a pleasing twist of lemon.
Although its screw top means it’s not entirely a dead-ringer for Whispering Angel, we think that makes it the perfect no hassle picnic-ready rosé.
ABV: 12.5%, Bottle size: 75cl, Place of origin: Grape variety: Grenache and cinsault
Chateau La Negly La Nature Rosé
- Chateau La Negly La Nature Rosé, £12.50 from Co-op - buy here
Pros: Beautiful looking bottle, same grapes as Whispering Angel
Cons: A little more expensive than some of the other wines
Rating: 4.5/5
If you’re willing to splurge a little on a stand-out rosé, this luxe bottle from the Co-op definitely deserves a space in your fridge.
Like Whispering Angel, it’s so pale it’s almost clear in the glass and has all the elegance you’d expect from a French rosé. It’s produced by a family estate in Languedoc which faces the Mediterranean Sea and is one of the sunniest places in France. Grapes are hand-picked and all the estate’s wines are made using environmentally friendly techniques.
It tastes like summer in a glass too. However, an intensely fruity nose of strawberry and gooseberry gives way to a startlingly delicate and well-balanced wine that’s so good you’ll want to drink it year-round.
The powerful structure belies its pale appearance and means it’s a winner with food too. We’d serve it with a bowl piled high with strawberries and cream and know life couldn’t get much better.
ABV: 12.5%, Bottle size: 75cl, Place of origin: France, Grape variety: Grenache, syrah, cinsault, mourvèdre
Morrisons The Best Provence Rosé
- Morrisons The Best Provence Rosé, £10 from Morrisons – buy here
Pros: Good looking curved bottle, made in Provence from the same grapes as Whispering Angel
Cons: It should be drunk soon after buying (but that won’t be difficult)
Rating: 4.5/5
There’s no need to be priced out of Provence with this excellent Whispering Angel dupe from Morrisons that is half the price of the more famous vino.
Its smart curved bottle looks far more expensive than the £10 price tag – even less if you wait for a Morrisons wine offer - and we’d happily leave it out on the dinner table to show it off.
Those who prefer their rosé with softer strawberry flavours should snap this one up, as red berries play second fiddle to sweet ripe peaches in this wine.
A touch of lip-smacking citrus and a nicely dry, crisp acidity means its blissfully light on its own but would also hold up alongside most food. Open it alongside a seafood platter and you’ll (almost) believe you’re on a beach in the South of France.
ABV: 13%, Bottle size: 75cl, Place of origin: France, Grape variety: Grenache, cinsault, mourvèdre
Wise Wolf Rosé
- Wise Wolf Rosé, £8.50 from Asda – buy here
Pros: Bottle is made to be recycled, produced in the region bordering Provence, very pale in the glass
Cons: Some may prefer the look of a traditional bottle
Rating: 4/5
This rosé ticks a lot of boxes for Whispering Angel fans. It’s tantalisingly pale pink, is made from almost identical grapes and, like the more famous Provençal vino, is made without oak to give it a fresh, clean style.
It’s even (almost) from the same region, produced by Australian wine giants Banrock Station in the Languedoc-Roussillon area of France which borders Provence and benefits from the same sunny Mediterranean climate.
It’s a great choice for anyone who loves the fruitiness of a rosé wine, with a rush of strawberry and raspberry juiciness and even a hint of melon on the palate.
Better still, this carbon-neutral wine is packaged using 95.1% recycled materials, with fully recycled glass and 100% recycled paper used for the label.
The slightly unusual design of the bottle – textured and with a shorter neck – is made to minimise the environmental impact of freight methods and to ensure it can be reused once empty as a vase or decoration. There’s even a QR code on the back to learn more about the packaging.
Overall, a great choice all-round for your tastebuds and the planet.
ABV: 12.5%, Bottle size: 75cl, Place of origin: France, Grape variety: Grenache, cinsault and syrah
Co-op Solo Pale Spanish Rosé
- Co-op Solo Pale Spanish Rosé, £8.25 from Co-op – buy here
Pros: Very pale in colour, goes well with food, attractive bottle
Cons: Slightly higher alcohol content than the other wines we tested, from Spain rather than France
Rating: 4/5
Whisper it, but it’s not just the French who can make summer-ready pale pink rosé.
This one comes from Spain and is made from garnacha, the Spanish version of the same grenache grape that is used in Whispering Angel.
Creating it was actually a group effort after Co-op held online wine events during the pandemic to find out what wine their customers really wanted, seeking feedback on everything from bottle shape to colour.
The result is a cracking Whispering Angel dupe – even down to the striking pencil drawing on the label.
Full of moreish flavours of cherries and strawberries, it has a rich minerality on the palate and a surprising zing on the finish that makes it endlessly drinkable. The price gets a big thumbs up, too.
ABV: 13.5%, Bottle size: 75cl, Place of origin: Spain, Grape variety: Garnacha
Cupiolo Pinot Grigio Blush
- Cupiolo Pinot Grigio Blush, £9.50 from Tesco – buy here
Pros: Beautifully pale pink, very fresh and drinkable, just as smooth as Whispering Angel, lovely looking bottle
Cons: Does not come from Provence, uses white rather than red grapes
Rating: 3.5/5
This is another pale pink wine that doesn’t even come from France, let alone Provence.
It's is produced in the Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT at the foot of the Dolomite Mountains in Italy and combines the easy-drinking citrus crispness of a pinot grigio with the more fruity flavours you’d expect in a rosé.
Unlike Whispering Angel, it’s made solely from white pinot grigio grapes. These can have a darker, copper-coloured skin which gives this blush wine its attractive colour.
The wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks to retain its bracing freshness while the area’s warm days and cool nights add a noticeable acidity.
Smooth and surprisingly sophisticated, it’s full of summery floral and lemon notes, with a pleasing hit of minerality.
While it’s not quite as complex as Whispering Angel (and a little darker in the glass), we’d happily open a bottle in the garden at the first sight of sun, knowing it’s half the price.
ABV: 12.5%, Bottle size: 75cl, Place of origin: Italy, Grape variety: Pinot grigio
Where is Whispering Angel made?
Whispering Angel is perhaps the best-known wine to come from the Provence region of France near Saint-Tropez.
It is produced by Château d’Esclans in the heart of Provence, a vineyard bought by winemaker Sacha Lichine in 2006. He is now widely credited with introducing the world to Provence rosé, although sold the majority stake in the estate to Moët Hennessy in 2019.
Why is Whispering Angel so popular?
Considered overly sweet and a little naff, rosé had bad press for years until Lichine brought Whispering Angel to the masses.
He claimed it was the best wine brand to come from France in the last two decades and made drinkers realise that rosé didn’t need to be bright pink or syrup-sweet.
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In fact, the wine’s refreshing acidity, rich fruit flavours and dry finish makes it ideal on its own or served with food. The rest was clever marketing. At around £20, the wine was just-expensive-enough to be aspirational yet is still affordable.
Lichine then convinced the world’s trendiest bars and restaurants to stock his wine, earning influential A-list fans and a dedicated social media following.
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