Michel Rolland: 1947 -2026

Michel Rolland died yesterday. He was 78.

I first heard of Michel Rolland through Mondovino. Jonathan Nossiter’s 2004 documentary basically cast him as the villain of globalisation: the flying consultant, phone glued to his ear, telling everyone to micro-oxygenate. Rolland seemed to enjoy it.

The real record is harder to dismiss. He helped Bordeaux find its footing after a brutal run of vintages in the 1970s. He walked into Argentine Malbec when importers wouldn’t touch it and helped turn it into a category. At his peak he was consulting across five continents.

Yes, the style fell out of fashion. Ripe, extracted, heavily oaked, after 2010 the market moved. But the generation of winemakers shaped by him, and the consumers who first engaged with wine through those wines, are still here.

Full obituary on Wine Spectator. Link HERE