There is the sky, the sun, the sea… and the earth too. A mountain of shale that stretches with panache to the coast to nestle against a sandy beach lined with pine forests, broom, laurels. From its highest point, a breathtaking panorama of the Golden Islands: the languid silhouettes of Porquerolles, Port-Cros and Le Levant. It is here that the vineyards of the controlled designation of origin (AOC) Côtes-de-Provence La Londe flourish, of which Château Sainte Marguerite is one of the jewels. The grapes grow in silence facing the sea, benefiting from a mild and dry climate, but also from strong sunshine (3,000 hours a year) and an almost permanent sea breeze which characterize the rosés of the house, bright and elegant.
Forty-six years of development
The contemporary history of the property began in 1977, when Brigitte and Jean-Pierre Fayard immediately fell in love with this classified growth of Provence, in La Londe-les-Maures, which had been struggling since its creation in 1929: 7 hectares of vines, a farmhouse surrounded by palm trees which they will make the emblem of the estate. “My parents came from the Loire. They were able to detect the potential of the region’s wines very early on, explains their son Olivier. They have never ceased to increase their demand for quality, helping to give the rosé believed in its letters of nobility. A mission in which the whole family has subsequently invested.” As their four children reached the age to take part in the adventure, each found their place: today, Olivier and Enzo ensure the development of the wines, Sigolène the management, Lionel the design. In 2022, the Fayard family and the Pernod Ricard group came together to build a long-term project and pursue development in France and internationally.
The vines of Sainte Marguerite now extend over nearly 200 hectares, divided into eleven plots. This diversity offers a subtle aromatic palette for blending wines in the three colors (1.3 million bottles). A vineyard built up over time, patiently. With two major types of terroir: that of La Londe composed of shale and poor in clay, whose climatology brings complexity and finesse to the wines, while that of Pierrefeu, clay-limestone, gives them power and character.
Organic viticulture
Since 2003, the estate has embarked on the path of organic viticulture. This results in the absence of fungicide, insecticide and herbicide. Better still, Sainte Marguerite guarantees 100% vegetable production (without animal input), with registration at the Vegan Society.
“We have acquired knowledge of the different terroirs over the course of the constitution of the vineyard. For forty-six years, we have learned to understand them in order to express the best of them”, confides wisely Olivier Fayard. As if time was passing more slowly under the caresses of the sun.
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