France’s superstar vigneron

The most famous wine-maker in the world is Michel Rolland, a charming and unassuming Frenchman from Pomerol in Bordeaux. Michel started his vinous life running the local wine laboratory with his wife Danny. Local vignerons took their wines to him for advice and to make sure that they were 'technically' sound.

Michel is now one of the superstars of the wine world. Besides Bordeaux, he makes wines at the top vineyards in California, Chile, Spain, Italy and even in India (Grover Estates). He can still, though, often be found in his 'lab' in Pomerol advising a vigneron with a hectare of vines how to get the best from his grapes.

His philosophy is very much minimalist - let nature do its work and only interfere to ensure that the natural process is encouraged and perfected. He always starts in his clients' vineyards. Essentially his message is: get the husbandry right first. After that, it is all about attention to detail.

He is also the best taster of young wines I have ever seen. It is a very important part of his job to be able to pick up any faults in a wine at the earliest possible stage so that whatever is wrong can be corrected before it is too late. Tasting young wine in small batches is also a key part of the blending process – that is, what goes into the first wine, the second wine and what has to be discarded.

I have seen Michel taste 100 glasses of wine in 10 minutes and grade them faultlessly; we rechecked his grading over a couple of hours after he had left and could not find fault with a single one. Incidentally, Michel smokes small cigars - with no effect on one of the finest palates in existence!

Michel has received some criticism over the past few years for making wines that taste like Pomerol all over the world. This is complete rubbish, not to mention an impossible feat. The similarity between all his wines is that they are rich, ripe and very well made, but of course each reflects its local climate and soil.

The French have produced many of the world's greatest artists, and Michel fits the bill perfectly in the world of wine. ·