A leading figure in contemporary oenology, Michel Rolland has passed away, leaving an indelible mark on the character of fine wines, from Bordeaux to the New World. A visionary consultant and an unrivalled taster, he profoundly redefined the balance and expectations of modern wine
Michel Rolland has just left us suddenly, and it is an understatement to say that with him an era of great Bordeaux wines has come to an end. Beneath the façade of a man who was always cheerful and a bon vivant, Michel, with his extraordinary charisma, succeeded in reinventing the taste of modern Bordeaux. More a man of the field than a man of science, he made the role of consultant oenologist almost indispensable to the production of fine wines, sometimes reducing the winegrower-owner to a mere sidekick in an oenological adventure that was beyond his grasp.
Michel Rolland understood better than anyone how to define the flavour profile of the wines he advised on, drawing on principles that were seemingly simple yet fundamental: good grapes harvested at perfect ripeness, vinified with common sense and aged in quality oak, had every chance of producing a delicious wine with good ageing potential. It would be futile here to list all the estates where he has applied his expertise, but we can certainly say that, since the 1980s, many of the finest successes on both banks of the Garonne (with, of course, a particular fondness for his beloved terroirs of the Libourne region, where he grew up), as well as in Napa Valley and Argentina, are, at least in part, due to him.
Some have criticised the ‘Rolland style’ to the point of the crudest caricature, forgetting that this most refined palate respected the truth of the terroirs entrusted to him better than anyone else, and that his innate sense of blending allowed him to bring out all their subtleties.
To Dany, with whom he long formed Bordeaux’s most brilliant duo, to his family, to the team at Rolland et Associés, the oenology laboratory he founded in 1973, and to all those who loved him, the entire Bettane+Desseauve team extends its deepest condolences.
By Thierry Desseauve
Should we burn the oenologists? Chantal Lecouty had given this title to an editorial in which I defended the intelligent, preventive oenology of Emile Peynaud and Jacques Puisais, so different from the corrective oenology of Burgundy or the Rhône Valley. I immediately received a friendly yet provocative letter from a certain Michel Rolland, whom I did not know at the time in 1982, entitled: ‘Should we burn the wine critics!’
We quickly understood one another, and a strong friendship blossomed between the two of us and Dany, his wife, herself a magnificent taster and rigorous scientist. That friendship is now in mourning, and with it the memory of the last 45 Bordeaux vintages vinified under Michel’s influence, which I had the chance, the joy and the honour to taste, judge and comment on. Not to mention everything he taught me.
And I suffered alongside him through all the caricatures that a typically French intelligentsia—uneducated, pretentious and partisan—has made of him since Mondovino, Jonathan Nossiter’s disastrous film. Rest in peace, Michel; your great wines will speak for you.
By Michel Bettane
Portrait by Mathieu Garçon
