April 24, finally free! Murielle and I went to Maury. It had been more than a year since we were there. Every time I am there, I think that it is a pity that I don’t spend enough time in this place where everything is so different, calm and wild – I speak about the nature, of course. We had a good meal at Maury’s 1 Michelin star restaurant with the Bizeul, and then visited the cellar and the vineyards, especially those in Lesquerde with its beautiful granite terroir.
When I returned to Saint Emilion, I heard about an article published in the April 22 issue of Le Figaro about Michel Rolland. This 2 pages article was titled “The citizen of Libourne who became a guru and phenomenon, Michel Rolland”.
Titles are always titles, even if I find this one a bit too much! I never hid my admiration for Michel Rolland, but I feel the word guru is inappropriate: he is certainly a charismatic leader.
Besides the picture, Michel Rolland makes a real synthesis of himself and his job: “my job is 30% enologist, 70% psychology”. I can vouch for that for it is exactly what I experienced in my relationship with Michel Rolland: every time I shared with him my fears, he knew, with his calm, confidence and paternal feeling, how to steer me in the right direction. I am (as well as Valandraud) amongst several other crus who owe him our success and I have never forgotten, especially considering that part of my story grew at the same time as Rolland’s legend and that our history is bound so there is no need for us to see each other often to know it.
So, when I read all the bird names he’s been given, I certainly respond strongly and when I read this article, I believe that I am really lucky to know that I can just call him when I need his help. Always there, Michel and his firm where I work closely with one of his consultant-enologist for my own consulting activity as well as Valandraud.
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