Pinotage gives SA an edge - Michel Rolland
By Wine Atlas, Tuesday 14 February 2006 :: Wine - South-Africa :: #103 :: rss
Famous in the wine world - and made infamous outside it by the film documentary Mondovino, the Fahrenheit 9/11 of the wine world - über consultant, Michel Rolland, is proud of what he does. 'No one else does what I do. No one. No one has 100 clients in 12 countries. I am an archetype of a consultant.' Rolland's claim cannot be said to be unfounded. Over the last 30 years he has expanded his business to include clients in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, the US and of course South Africa - where he consults for the Rupert and Rothschild partnership, and more recently L'Ormarins and Marianne, formerly named Mont Destin. L'Ormarins is owned by the Rupert family, and Marianne was bought by a friend of Rolland's, Christian Dauriac, in October 2003. In Stellenbosch Rolland and his wife, Dany, an oenologist, also have a joint venture with Murray and Juliet Boustred at Remhoogte Estate.
In France the Rollands have five wine estates, and they run a wine analysis lab near Pomerol which employees 12 people, plus four other joint ventures, three in Argentina and one in Spain.
Rolland has denied earning the vast sums he is said to. Pressed for a figure, he said it could be anything from '3,000 to 25,000 euro' per consultancy, depending on the project. There is also, he says, consulting he does for free.
Asked about his investments in South Africa, he points out that he doesn't actually own any properties there. 'As is my habit I have made what one can call a gentleman's agreement with one owner, he produces the grapes and I make the wine.'
Continue reading: wine.co.za
