Michel Rolland

Michel Rolland (; 24 December 1947 – 20 March 2026) was a French Bordeaux-based oenologist, with hundreds of clients across 13 countries. "It is his consultancies outside France that have set him apart from all but a handful of his countrymen." It is frequently addressed that his signature style, which he helps wineries achieve, is fruit-heavy and oak-influenced, a preference shared by influential critic Robert Parker.

Rolland owned several properties in Bordeaux, including Château Bertineau Saint-Vincent in Lalande de Pomerol, Château Rolland-Maillet in Saint-Émilion, Château Fontenil in Fronsac, and Château La Grande Clotte in Lussac-Saint-Émilion as well as joint venture partnerships with Bonne Nouvelle in South Africa, Val de Flores in Argentina, Rolland Galarreta in Spain and Yacochuya (Salta) and Clos de los Siete in Argentina.

Early life and education Vineyards at the Rolland family estate of Château Le Bon Pasteur in Pomerol. Born into a wine making family in Libourne, Rolland grew up on the family's estate Château Le Bon Pasteur in Pomerol. After high school, Rolland enrolled at Tour Blanche Viticultural and Oenology school in Bordeaux with his father's encouragement. Excelling in his studies, he was one of five students chosen by director Jean-Pierre Navarre to evaluate the program's quality against that of the prestigious Bordeaux Oenology Institute. Rolland later enrolled in the institute, where he met his wife and fellow oenologist, Dany Rolland, and graduated as part of the class of 1972.

At the institute, Michel Rolland studied under the tutelage of renowned oenologists Pierre Sudraud, Pascal Ribéreau-Gayon, Jean Ribéreau-Gayon, and Émile Peynaud. Rolland has said these men were a great influence upon him and considered them the "Fathers of Modern Oenology".

Career In 1973, Rolland and his wife bought into an oenology lab on the Right Bank of Bordeaux in the town of Libourne. They took over full control of the lab in 1976 and expanded it to include tasting rooms. By 2006, the Rolland's lab employed eight full-time technicians, analyzing samples from nearly 800 wine estates in France each year. Rolland's two daughters, Stéphanie & Marie, also work at the lab.

Michel Rolland's first clients included the Bordeaux Châteaux Troplong Mondot, Angélus, and Beau-Séjour Bécot. An early setback was the loss of two Saint-Émilion first growths, Château Canon and Château La Gaffelière, due to conflict in style with the owners and Rolland. According to Rolland, the loss "calmed him down" and brought him out of an awkward stage in his early career. Twenty years later, the two chateaux returned to be part of the more than 100 wineries who employ Michel Rolland as their consultant.

In his book Noble Rot: A Bordeaux Wine Revolution, William Echikson writes that before Michel Rolland became consultant to Château Lascombes, it "produced about 500,000 bottles of mediocre wine, about half of which was sold not as Lascombes itself, but as the inferior Chevalier de Lascombes." Today, Echikson contends, that even the Chevalier (the second wine of the estate) is better than the old full-fledged Lascombes.

Media exposure Michel Rolland's signature on a bottle of the Argentine wine Yacochuya which Rolland owned as part of a joint venture in Cafayate. Rolland features prominently in the critical 2004 documentary Mondovino by Jonathan Nossiter as an agent of wine globalization. In Mondovino, Rolland is seen on several occasions advising his clients to microoxygenate their wines, including a scene at Château Le Gay in Bordeaux. Since the film, Rolland has said that he is "not a fan of microoxygenation. The film suggests I am. Some of my clients inquire about it. It can help in special conditions — if the tannins are fierce or hard, micro-oxygenation can make them softer and rounder. In certain countries with certain terroir, like Chile or Argentina, I may use it." James Suckling, formerly of Wine Spectator, notes in an article about Rolland that "He is not a proponent of micro-oxidation in wine-making as some suggest, and never has been".

Influence From his consulting work and media presence, Michel Rolland influenced many aspects of both the French and global wine industry. Among the prominent wine personalities that have been influenced by Rolland is the Rhone wine producer Jean-Luc Colombo.

Napa Valley vineyards under Rolland influence Rolland's first projects outside of Bordeaux were in California. He consulted for many highly regarded Napa Valley wineries. These included:

St. Supery, Rutherford Dalla Valle Vineyards, Oakville Jericho Canyon Vineyard, Calistoga Harlan Estate, Oakville Staglin Family Vineyard, Rutherford Bryant Estate, Pritchard Hill Ovid Napa Valley, Pritchard Hill Lithology, St. Helena

Bordeaux vineyards under Rolland influence Rolland held decisive roles (such as owner, cellar master, oenologist, consultant) in a number of chateaux in Bordeaux. These include: Angélus, St-Emilion Grand Cru Armens, St-Emilion Grand Cru Ausone, St-Emilion Grand Cru Beauregard, Pomerol Bellefont-Belcier, St-Emilion Grand Cru Bellevue Mondotte, St-Emilion Grand Cru Bibian, Haut-Médoc Blason de l'Evangile, Pomerol le Bon Pasteur, Pomerol Bonalgue, Pomerol Branas Grand Poujeaux, Moulis Brillette, Moulis de Camensac, Haut-Médoc Cap de Faugères, Côtes de Castillon Cap Léon Veyrin, Listrac-Médoc Certan de May de Certan, Pomerol Chapelle d'Ausone, St-Emilion Grand Cru Clarke, Listrac-Médoc la Clémence, Pomerol Clément-Pichon, Haut-Médoc Clinet, Pomerol Clos des Jacobins, St-Emilion Grand Cru Clos du Clocher, Pomerol Clos l'Eglise, Pomerol Clos les Lunelles, Côtes de Castillon Clos Saint-Martin, St-Emilion Grand Cru la Commanderie de Mazeyres, Pomerol Corbin, St-Emilion Grand Cru Côte de Baleau, St-Emilion Grand Cru la Couspaude, St-Emilion Grand Cru le Crock, St-Estèphe Croix de Labrie, St-Emilion Grand Cru Destieux, St-Emilion Grand Cru Destieux, St-Emilion Grand Cru la Dominique, St-Emilion Grand Cru l'Evangile, Pomerol Faugères, St-Emilion Grand Cru Faugères Cuvée Péby, St-Emilion Grand Cru la Fleur de Boüard, Lalande de Pomerol la Fleur de Gay, Pomerol Fombrauge, St-Emilion Grand Cru Fontenil, Fronsac Franc-Mayne, St-Emilion Grand Cru la Garde, Pessac-Léognan le Gay, Pomerol Giscours, Margaux Grand Mayne, St-Emilion Grand Cru Grand Ormeau, Lalande de Pomerol Grand-Pontet, St-Emilion Grand Cru les Grandes Murailles, St-Emilion Grand Cru les Grands Chênes, Médoc la Gravière, Lalande de Pomerol Jean de Gué, Lalande de Pomerol Julien, Haut-Médoc Kirwan, Margaux Larmande, St-Emilion Grand Cru Larrivet-Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan Lascombes, Margaux Latour-Martillac, Pessac-Léognan Léoville-Poyferré, St-Julien Loudenne, Médoc Magrez-Fombrauge, St-Emilion Grand Cru Malartic-Lagravière, Pessac-Léognan Malescot-Saint-Exupéry, Margaux Monbousquet, St-Emilion Grand Cru Pape Clément, Pessac-Léognan Pavie, St-Emilion Grand Cru Péby Faugères, St-Emilion Grand Cru Petit Village, Pomerol Peyfaures, Bordeaux Superior Phélan-Ségur, St-Estèphe le Plus de la Fleur de Boüard, Lalande de Pomerol Pontet-Canet, Pauillac Ripeau, St-Emilion Grand Cru Rochebelle, St-Emilion Grand Cru Rouget, Pomerol la Sérénité, Pessac-Léognan Smith Haut Lafitte, Pessac-Léognan la Tour-Carnet, Haut-Médoc Troplong-Mondot, St-Emilion Grand Cru la Tulipe de la Garde, Libourne de Valandraud, St-Emilion Grand Cru la Violette, Pomerol Virginie de Valandraud, St-Emilion Grand Cru

Death Rolland died from a heart attack on 20 March 2026, at the age of 78.