03/23/2026
Michel Rolland died two days ago!
Obituary Michel Rolland: 1947-2026
Jane Anson, March 2026
There are a handful of figures in Bordeaux wine that can truly be said to have had a global impact, but Michel Rolland was unquestionably among them.
This was someone who was regularly described as tireless, indefatigable, life-affirming, making the news that he died – suddenly and unexpectedly – of a heart attack on Friday March 20 a shock, despite turning 78 a few months ago. It was a reminder also that the generation who built modern Bordeaux is not going to be with us forever.
Born on December 24, 1947, in Libourne, Michel Rolland grew up on his family’s estate Château Le Bon Pasteur in Pomerol, the appellation that came to be associated with his name above all others. His oenology consultancy Laboratoire Rolland is found on the main street of one of the two villages that makes up the Pomerol appellation, and hundreds of global winemakers and big name journalists have walked through its unassuming doors. A mark of his global reach is that you can buy Rolland merch, including his Glénat autobiography Le Gurou du Vin, from the front desk – testament to a man who started out in wine in 1973 and was still going strong right up to his last moments. He was in Argentina just a few weeks ago, working with his daughter Stephanie and wife Dany on the 2026 vintage of Mariflor at his Val de Flores estate in the Uco Valley.
On announcing the news (via email to his clients) Laboratoire Rolland said that he was ‘still full of energy, projects, and travel plans’.
In September 2025 we published a profile of Rolland by Guy Woodward, called The World’s Wine Consultant. In it, he confirmed that even today his consultancy advises over 150 estates in 14 countries, from Bordeaux (Châteaux Pontet Canet, Figeac and La Conseillante, among several others), to the US (Harlan, Staglin, Screaming Eagle, St Supery), Italy (Ornellaia, Monteverro), Chile (Casa Lapostolle), Spain (Marques de Caceres), Argentina, South Africa, India, Croatia, Armenia. The term ‘flying winemaker’ was coined because of Rolland, and no one has ever taken the mantle and run with it with such style.
The Pomerol estate is no longer under family ownership, but he kept Château Fonténil in Fronsac with his wife Dany Rolland, as well as his Argentinian estates Val de Flores and Bodega Rolland. He retired from fulltime work at the Pomerol laboratory a few years ago, handing over the majority shareholding of Rolland & Associés to his long-term partners Jean-Philippe Fort, Mikaël Laizet and Julien Viaud in 2020, but he was still very close to them all, and continued to work with several of his longest-standing clients, almost all of whom became close friends with a man who known for his oversized charm, as well as his legendary tasting ability.
He leaves behind his wife Dany, daughters Stéphanie and Marie, both of whom continue to work in the business, and his grandchildren.
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