Michel Rolland
Michel Rolland (born December 24, 1947 in Libourne ) is a French oenologist .
He advises well over 100 important wineries in 13 countries, most of them in Bordeaux . The style he represents - concentrated red wines from very ripe grapes, copious use of new wood - exerts great influence worldwide.
biography
Michel Rolland comes from a family of winemakers based in Pomerol . The Château Le Bon Pasteur winery that he runs today already belonged to his grandfather. After training at the wine school of Château La Tour Blanche , he studied oenology at the Université Bordeaux II until 1972 . At that time, Pierre Sudraut, Pascal and Jean Ribéreau-Gayon and Émile Peynaud taught there . Rolland was strongly influenced by them, he sees them as the "fathers of modern oenology". In 1973 Michel Rolland and his wife Dany, also an oenologist, joined an analysis laboratory in Libourne. In 1976 he acquired it in full. He earned his first merits as an oenologist on the “right bank” of the Bordelais, where he established his reputation as an outstanding winemaker. Rolland's worldwide rise took place parallel to the success of the books by the American wine critic Robert Parker , with whom he has been friends since the early 1980s. The success of the wine style propagated by Michel Rolland made him a sought-after advisor to leading châteaux as well as the midwife of celebrated garage wines . Today he is considered to be the prototype of the Flying Winemaker, the viticulture consultant flying around the world.
His first customers included the Châteaux L'Angélus , Beauséjour-Bécot and Troplong Mondot , who later succeeded in advancing or returning to the top class of the Premiers Grand Crus Classés of Saint-Émilion, not least because of his work . The collaboration with the Châteaux Canon and La Gaffelière turned out to be more difficult, since they terminated him due to differences of opinion about the wine styles. But today they are back among his customers.
activity
The benchmark of his activity is the analysis laboratory, where 14 employees now work. His own wineries in Libournais, the two Châteaux Le Bon Pasteur (Pomerol, 7 ha) and Rolland-Maillet ( Saint-Émilion , 3.4 ha), the Château Bertineau Saint , also have a certain laboratory character -Vincent in Lalande-de-Pomerol (5.6 ha), the 1986 acquired Château Fontenil in Fronsac (8.6 ha) and La Grande Clotte in Lussac-Saint-Émilion . He is also in joint venture partnerships with Bonne Nouvelle in South Africa , Val de Flores, Yacochuya and Clos de la Siete in Argentina and Campo Eliseo in Spain .
The list of goods currently or temporarily advised by Michel Rolland reads like a Who's Who of Bordelais:
Outside France, Michel Rolland, as a flying winemaker, is now looking after around 100 wineries in 12 other countries, including a. Chile (Casa Lapostolle), Spain (Don Sebastian), Italy (Ornellaia, Monteverro, Biserno).
Michel Rolland's wine style
The Rollandian style of vinification undoubtedly suits the Merlot -influenced wines from the right bank of the Dordogne (Saint-Émilion, Pomerol). Its aim is to produce full-bodied, smooth and harmonious wines. These goals by no means exclude longevity and potential for improvement in the cellar, as his own wines prove. Even a Bon Pasteur or Rolland-Maillet from a small vintage like 1993 took over a decade to develop fully. Unlike in the film Mondovino - The World of Wine by Jonathan Nossiter, he is not an absolute advocate of micro-oxygenation .
In a comparative tasting of the Revue de Vin de France , the following similarities between the 2002 vintage vinified by Michel Rolland emerged:
- deep color
- very ripe, sometimes even overripe fruit
- strong extraction
- distinctive wood tone with toasted and vanilla notes
- rather low acid values
- a sweet sensation caused by alcohol content and wood
Nevertheless, the wines tasted showed a broad diversity. There can be no question of the uniformity that he was frequently accused of. Indeed, his philosophy is to respect the terroir and to maximize its potential by keeping yields low and harvesting the grapes at the highest possible ripeness. The wines of his own estates embodied the style of Michel Rolland in its purest form. On the other hand, some of the châteaux he advised seemed to be exaggerating a bit and exaggerating the direction into caricatures.
The Rolland-Parker duo
With his style, Rolland meets the preferences of the world's most influential wine critic Robert Parker. Its favorites in Bordeaux are anyway the Merlot-dominated wines from Pomerol. Therefore it is a sure recipe for success for a château to hire Rolland as a consultant and to announce this publicly. High Parker scores and skyrocketing sales prices are usually the reward. A good example is the already renowned Château Pavie in Saint-Émilion, whose prices have multiplied after the new owner signed Rolland and the 1998 vintage received enthusiastic reviews. In the film Mondovino - The World of Wine by Jonathan Nossiter, Rolland appeared as the protagonist of a worldwide wine uniform.
Movie
- Mondovino - The World of Wine (Mondovino) documentary, 138 min., Written and directed by Jonathan Nossiter , France 2004
- “The tricks of the winemakers - cultural asset or industrial product ?” Report, 30 min., Script and direction: Thomas Leif , series: ARD-exclusiv, production: SWR , first broadcast: November 8, 2006
Individual evidence
- ↑ “The tricks of the winemakers. Cultural asset or industrial product? ” Phoenix , table of contents
- ↑ "SWR chief reporter Leif reveals tricks of the winemakers" ( Memento of the original from May 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , SWR - Südwestrundfunk, November 7, 2006
literature
- Interview with Michel Rolland in Les maîtres du vin , supplement to Paris Match no.2782 of September 19, 2002
- À l'aveugle, reconnaît-on le style Michel Rolland? in Revue du Vin de France no.490, April 2005
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rolland, Michel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French oenologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 24, 1947 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Libourne |