Tuesday, October 5, 2010

The daily Sud Ouest and its titles Marianne style !

It would take a book to talk about Michel Rolland and the reactions he generates!
2 readers on my blog recommended an article published in the newspaper Sud Ouest, which, of course, I was already aware of through several sources: la passion du vin with comments, some serious, others expectedly caricatured, like the headline of this Sud Ouest articles: "Wine of the future, Coca Cola style, according to enologist Michel Rolland," and signed by the journalist (?) Denis Lherm.

Like me 3 ort 4 years ago, Michel Rolland conducted a lecture with questions and answers for students of the famous business school, INSEEC, on the theme which wine will we drink in 2050?
This conference lasted over 2 hours and it is true that for 10 minutes Michel Rolland cited Coca Cola, hence the title in the newspaper and the caricatured comments on Michel Rolland. As usual, some shortcuts are anathema to others.

To think that Michel Rolland is a bit provocative, for sure, but imagine he’s stupid is upsetting.

It is true that here in France success is often viewed as a flaw and suspicious and it is true that all customers who use Rolland's services are stupid! No doubt that critics, journalists, writers, wine lovers who love the man and his work, think that the wines made by him, his company, his team are degenerate idiots who know nothing.

It is also true that tasted blind, Rolland’s wines are good… how vulgar.
As for me, I find it difficult to guess, blind, a wine made by Michel Rolland or under the supervision of technical managers or competent enologists .
There are other enologists and consultants here in Bordeaux - or elsewhere - and all they could be blamed for is for wanting to produce good, healthy and clean wine appreciated by its owner and customers. This is probably unacceptable to many, like painters, where talent only exists in misery and misunderstanding.
In any case, it would be nice to have the opinion of students present that day. As for me, I know that Rolland can be a consultant to produce millions of bottles of wine, industrial style, and that he can also participate, with talent, in producing the rarest wines, on the finest terroirs in Bordeaux, Italy, Argentina, USA, etc..., for he likes challenges and the least among them is to work for icons, some of which owe him part of their success!

In the meantime, here are some pictures of the 2010 harvest of our white grapes :

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