Definition: Saint Margaret

From the conversion of Saint Margaret of Antioch to this beautiful story of a career change, it was only a symbolic leap. How many people have fallen in love with vineyards and abandoned the dreariness of the office or factory for a beautiful plot of rainbow-coloured vines? Jean Pierre Fayard is one such convert. Leaving the hills of Forez, he suddenly found himself in the forests of Les Maures. Having acquired around fifteen hectares in 1977, he transformed the Sainte-Marguerite estate to produce what are now considered gems of wine.
Saint Margaret is revered for having tamed the whale like Jonah, but also as a pearl (or Margaritifera: the harvesting of shell pearls). This small estate, which has grown to 25 hectares, produces sun-drenched Provençal wines. Mourvèdre and Syrah blend well together, offering discerning customers rosé, red and white wines that can be kept or drunk immediately under the fragrant arbour. A stone's throw from the sea, east of Hyères, the Domaine de Sainte-Marguerite is located in La Londe, near the Parc des Oiseaux. It is enchanting. Rest assured that the owner, who tends to his wines under the expert guidance of local oenologist Richard Bertin, is an outstanding winemaker. To name a wine estate after Marguerite on a summer's day is to offer bottles of Sainte-Marguerite as one would offer a bouquet of flowers!
Saint Margaret of Scotland, a martyr, lived between the 3rd and 4th centuries. She is the patron saint of pregnant women, who greatly venerated her in the Middle Ages. Some legends associate the large belly of a pregnant woman with a barrel. Coopers also give the name "marguerite" to the shape of the barrel at a certain stage of its manufacture, when only one end is hooped, the other remaining open like a flower.