The French company Pernod-Ricard owns many well-known wine and spirits brands. But they have had a major spring cleaning and thrown out many of their wine producers. Recently, parts of the extensive wine portfolio were sold to Australian wine giant Accolade Wines, including Jacob’s Creek and Orlando in Australia, Stoneleigh, Brancott Estate and Church Road in New Zealand and Campo Viejo and Ysios in Rioja.
Pernod-Ricard is not abandoning wine entirely, however. They keep their slightly more luxurious brands: Champagne Mumm, Champagne Perriet-Jouët, Château Sainte Marguerite (rosé) in Provence, Kenwood in Sonoma, and Mumm Napa. What they keep is more marketing driven products than ones with regional or terroir identities.
It is perhaps natural that Pernod-Ricard wants to focus more on spirits. That is how it started once upon a time, with anise-flavoured spirits such as pastis concocted by Monsieur Pernod and, much later, by Monsieur Ricard. In 1975, the two companies merged. Anise drinks are still big sellers. Pernod-Ricard bought the Swedish company Vin & Sprit AB in 2008 because they wanted their Absolut Vodka. They got rid of the about 40 wine brands included in the buy quite quickly.
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