InVivo Wine is moving into sparkling wines, thanks to Pernod Ricard

onfirming a recurrent rumour, two press releases were published simultaneously to announce that “InVivo Wine has entered into exclusive negotiations with Pernod Ricard with a view to acquiring Café de Paris”. Negotiations involve the Charmat-method sparkling wine brand (5 million bottles sold worldwide, including 2.9 million in France) and its production facilities in Cubzac-les-Ponts, near Bordeaux.

“As part of the dynamic management strategy for its brand portfolio [...], the plans would provide a guarantee that jobs would be saved for the 29 employees at the facilities”, explains Pernod Ricard, which is also negotiating “a subcontracting agreement for the brands not sold to InVivo”, namely its flavoured wines.

Scope for innovation

For the InVivo group, entering the world of sparkling wines would provide it with an instrument for development centred on Café de Paris. “The brand, which is not rooted in a specific region, offers almost unlimited scope for innovation”, said Frédéric Noyère, the new CEO of InVivo Wine, a subsidiary of the InVivo co-operative group, in a statement.

“Completion of the acquisition is subject to the signature of final agreements, after consultation with the employee representative bodies of the companies involved”, concluded the two parties.