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Château Sainte Marguerite and Pernod Ricard: a Provençal marriage
Wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard has finally added a Provence rosé to its portfolio by becoming majority shareholders in Château Sainte Marguerite. Elizabeth Gabay MW finds out what's in store and tastes the estates 2022 rosé releases.
This is a tale of pastis and rosé, the Mediterranean sea and boules, and of two families: the Ricards and the Fayards.
The Pernod Ricard group was created in 1975 with the the merger of two French anise-based spirits companies: Pernod, founded in 1805, and Ricard, created in 1932 by Paul Ricard.
Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Château Sainte Marguerite’s two 2022 rosés
Today, the group is the world’s second largest wine and spirits company, thanks to a number of key acquisitions over the past 30 years. It now has a portfolio of 240 brands, available in over 160 countries.
Although Pernod Ricard has had Provence wines in its portfolio, it did not work directly with an estate, so has been searching for a business to join the group.
Following a meeting between Alexandre Ricard (CEO of Pernod Ricard), César Giron (also a member of the Ricard family and CEO of the Martell Mumm Perrier-Jouët group), and the Fayard family (of Château Sainte Marguerite and Château Hermitage Saint-Martin), the two families bonded and agreed to Pernod Ricard becoming majority shareholders in Château Sainte Marguerite. Olivier and Enzo Fayard remain involved, however.
Château Sainte Marguerite’s barrel room.
(Image credit: Château Sainte Marguerite)
‘The Fayards know about rosé, and we have the distribution network,’ says Pernod Ricard. ‘We are going to make it a brand recognised both in France and abroad for its unique and modern style, because rosé and Champagne have the same audience, and the same networks.’
From holiday home to shiny new cellar
The Fayard family’s history with Château Sainte Marguerite began in 1977, when Brigitte and Jean-Pierre Fayard acquired the cru classé estate Château La Source Sainte Marguerite and its 3ha of vines overlooking the Mediterranean sea.
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It was originally a summer holiday home for this family from the city of Saint-Étienne, but the Fayards eventually moved south permanently and expanded the vineyard holdings with the acquisition of Château Hermitage Saint-Martin in 1999, then La Tuilerie in 2021.
Today, the Fayards have more than 200ha, and growth in production led to the construction of a brand new 5,500m² cellar in 2019, with room for 800 barrels. Most of the wine is currently sold in France, so Olivier says joining the Pernod Ricard portfolio will mean an increase in export sales, and the wines will be available in the UK in 2023.
(Image credit: Château Sainte Marguerite)
Future plans
Château Sainte Marguerite’s total production is split between 70% rosé, 15% white and 15% red, but Olivier commented that now, with greater distribution, they ‘will obviously further increase the share of rosé that corresponds to global demand’.
Giron added that the range of Château Sainte Marguerite wines will evolve, rather than grow in total volume, and over the next two years there will be a complete redesign of the range.
Meanwhile, Enzo is focusing on increasing the plantation of Syrah for the reds and Grenache for the rosé, the style of which is unlikely to change, with Olivier and Enzo both preferring the peachy flavours of Grenache.
Cuvée Symphonie is made with grapes from neighbouring estates and some cooperatives such as Cuers, Gonfaron and Flassans. The current top-of-the-range cuvée is Fantastique, of which 350,000 bottles are made each year.
A new prestige range – comprising a red and a white with longer oak ageing – is being created from the 2022 vintage and will be available in 2024, while 2023 will see the birth of a new premium rosé which, according to Olivier, would not be oaked.
An IGP Viognier and a red wine will also be added to the line-up.
Château Sainte Marguerite’s rosés tasted and rated:
Elizabeth Gabay MW has specialised in the wines of south-eastern France and Hungary since the 1980’s. Working as an independent wine merchant and consultant, she graduated as a Master of Wine in 1998 and moved to southeast France in 2002.
Her book, Rose: Understanding the pink wine revolution, was published in 2018 and she has continued to write about and judge rosé wines for Decanter.
Aside from Decanter, she has written for Drinks Business, Harpers, The Wine Merchant, VinCE and Nomacorc.
She is the lead instructor for the Provence immersion course run by the French Wine Society and she has judged at numerous Decanter World Wine Awards since 2007.
