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News
Sainte Marguerite en Provence announces plans to acquire estate
Pernod Ricard brand Sainte Marguerite en Provence has announced plans to acquire the Aux Terres de Ravel estate.
The move will see the rosé specialist and cru classé Côtes de Provence château, owned by the Fayard family and Pernod Ricard, buy the estate and 280 hectares of vineyards under the proposal.
It will also see the sale of 20 hectares to young winegrowers as part of Société d’Aménagement Foncier et d’Etablissement Rural (SAFER) support programme.
The château, which produces brand including the Symphonie, Fantastique and Marguerite en Provence vintages, will now cover more than 500 hectares in the AOC.
Support growth
Speaking about the deal, Olivier Fayard, Managing Director and member of the founding family of the Sainte Marguerite vineyard, said: “This project should help support our growth in France and internationally. We are delighted that young winegrowers will also benefit from this move”.
Frédéric Ravel, representative of the Ravel family, said: “We are very pleased to see our family heritage join Sainte Marguerite en Provence, whose values we share and who will continue to develop the estate in the same spirit that has prevailed until now”.
It is expected that the deal will be completed this summer.
New wines
The news comes as Sainte Marguerite has unveiled an ambitiously priced line-up of three high-end wines, its first new range since being acquired by Pernod Ricard in 2022.
Provence rosé has been arguably the greatest wine industry success story of the past decade, making household names of the likes of Whispering Angel, Château d’Esclans and Miraval – and spawning a host of me-too takes on the style from Argentina to Australia.
Two of the big questions following the Pernod acquisition revolved around the potential to create new ranges under the Sainte Marguerite banner, and whether the new owner would make more – or less – of the property’s white and red wines.
The new Marguerites en Provence collection answered this question, and as with the Fantastique range created five years ago, there’s a rosé (2023 vintage, 15,000 bottles), a white (2022; 4,000 bottles) and a red (2021, less than 15,000 bottles), but this time the pricing is rather more ambitious, spanning €55 (rosé) to €65 (red and white). Compare that to Fantastique: €30 (rosé) to €38 (red and white).