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22-568: Like other vineyards in Saint-Émilion such as Château Ausone , the Pavie vineyard dates back to Roman times. It takes its name from the orchards of peaches (" pavies ") that used to stand there. The modern estate was assembled by Ferdinand Bouffard in the late 19th century by buying plots from several families. The plots were still managed separately, and the 9 hectares bought from the Pigasse family retained

44-533: A scene at Château Le Gay in Bordeaux. Since the film, Rolland has said that he is "not a fan of microoxygenation. The film suggests I am. Some of my clients inquire about it. It can help in special conditions — if the tannins are fierce or hard, micro-oxygenation can make them softer and rounder. In certain countries with certain terroir, like Chile or Argentina, I may use it." James Suckling , formerly of Wine Spectator , notes in an article about Rolland that "He

66-513: A separate identity as Château Pavie-Decesse. However Bouffard struggled with phylloxera , and at the end of World War I he sold it to Albert Porte, who sold it to Alexandre Valette in 1943. His grandson Jean-Paul Valette sold it to Gérard Perse in 1998 for $ 31 million. Perse is a Parisian millionaire and former cyclist who sold two supermarket chains to fund his entry into the wine business. He bought Château Monbousquet in 1993, Château Pavie-Decesse in 1997, and Pavie in 1998. He ripped out most of

88-459: A statesman and poet from Bordeaux who owned about 100 acres (0.40 km ) of vineyard. It is believed by some that Château Ausone is on the foundations of his villa. The modern estate can be dated to the 18th century, when it was owned by Jean Cantenat. Later, under the ownership of the Lafargue family, the vineyard was inherited by Edouard Dubois who steered the château through the difficulties of

110-556: A wine making family in Libourne , Rolland grew up on the family's estate Château Le Bon Pasteur in Pomerol . After high school, Rolland enrolled at Tour Blanche Viticultural and Oenology school in Bordeaux with his father's encouragement. Excelling in his studies, he was one of five student chosen by director Jean-Pierre Navarre to evaluate the program's quality against that of the prestigious Bordeaux Oenology Institute . Rolland later enrolled in

132-457: Is best from the Douro not St.Emilion. Ridiculous wine more reminiscent of a late-harvest Zinfandel than a red Bordeaux with its unappetising green notes...12/20" Yet the trade weren't too bothered since the wine was in a style that they knew American critic, Robert Parker would like. Parker accused Robinson of lying in her tasting notes. The media coverage frequently described a "war of words" between

154-932: Is fruit-heavy and oak-influenced, a preference shared by influential critic Robert Parker . Rolland owns several properties in Bordeaux, including Château Bertineau Saint-Vincent in Lalande de Pomerol, Château Rolland-Maillet in Saint-Émilion , Château Fontenil in Fronsac , and Château La Grande Clotte in Lussac-Saint-Émilion as well as joint venture partnerships with Bonne Nouvelle in South Africa , Val de Flores in Argentina , Rolland Galarreta in Spain and Yacochuya ( Salta ) and Clos de los Siete in Argentina . Born into

176-610: Is not a proponent of micro-oxidation in wine-making as some suggest, and never has been". Michel Rolland is also a wine making consultant for the Amphorae Winery in Israel (marketed as Makura in the United States) and has started signing his name to their premium Makura series. He visits Amphorae and their vineyards once a year and has his assistants throughout the year help implement his practices adopted by Amphorae's wine making team at

198-553: The 2022 reclassification. The winery is located on the Right Bank of France's Bordeaux wine region in the Gironde department, close to the town of Saint-Émilion. The winery also produces a second wine named Chapelle d'Ausone. Placed on the western edge of 11th century village Saint-Émilion, with elevated vineyards facing south on steep terraces in ideal situation, Ausone takes its name from Decimius Magnus Ausonius (310–395 AD ),

220-650: The Right Bank of Bordeaux in the town of Libourne. They took over full control of the lab in 1976 and expanded it to include tasting rooms. By 2006 the Rolland's lab employed 8 full-time technicians, analyzing samples from nearly 800 wine estates in France each year. Rolland's two daughters, Stéphanie & Marie, also work at the lab. Michel Rolland's first clients included the Bordeaux Châteaux Troplong Mondot , Angélus , and Beau-Séjour Bécot . An early setback

242-462: The annual production averages little more than 2,000 cases (180 hL). Michel Rolland Michel Rolland (born December 24, 1947) is a Bordeaux -based oenologist , with hundreds of clients across 13 countries and influencing wine style around the world. "It is his consultancies outside France that have set him apart from all but a handful of his countrymen." It is frequently addressed that his signature style, which he helps wineries achieve,

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264-565: The courts was brought to an end when the Vauthiers bought the Dubois-Challon shares in the mid 1990s. Alain Vauthier became managing director of Ausone, while Hélyette Dubois-Challon won the right to live in the chateau until her death in 2003. Michel Rolland was appointed consultant oenologist in 2002. The success of the wine produced at Ausone is attributed to a combination of exposure and

286-475: The estate. Ausone was one of a few estates which escaped the terrible frost of 1956, unlike its neighbour Cheval Blanc that lost several years' vintages. Other neighbours suffered the destruction of their vines. Despite being one of the great names of Bordeaux, Ausone fell into decline until Pascal Delbeck was appointed winemaker in 1976. For several years Ausone was jointly owned by the Dubois-Challon and Vauthier families. After an unsettling time, feuding in

308-459: The institute, where he met his wife and fellow oenologist, Dany Rolland, and graduated as part of the class of 1972. At the institute, Michel Rolland studied under the tutelage of renowned oenologists Pierre Sudraud, Pascal Ribéreau-Gayon, Jean Ribéreau-Gayon, and Émile Peynaud . Rolland has said these men were a great influence upon him and considers them the "Fathers of Modern Oenology." In 1973, Rolland and his wife bought into an oenology lab on

330-450: The late 19th century, and in 1916 added the adjacent Château Belair to their estate. The chateaux were run separately, although both age their wine in the Ausone cellars, caves in the limestone cliffs beneath the town of Saint-Émilion. After Dubois died in 1921, his widow Hélyette Dubois-Challon and Dubois' children of a previous marriage who married into the Vauthier family took control over

352-442: The old equipment, building new temperature-controlled wooden fermentation vats, a new cellar, and a new irrigation system in the vineyard. He brought in the controversial wine consultant Michel Rolland , who has seen yields cut from 55 hl/ha to 30 hl/ha with severe pruning and green-harvesting and encouraged malolactic fermentation in the wine. The result has seen the wine become much more concentrated and intense. In 2012, Pavie

374-476: The soil, a mixture of sand and clay on limestone unique to the district. The vineyard is 7 hectares (17 acres), arranged with the grape varieties of 50% Cabernet Franc and 50% Merlot , planted with a density of 6,500 plants per hectare. Due to the small scale of the vineyards, picking may be done at an optimal moment, usually in two afternoons. Of both the Grand vin and the second wine Chapelle d'Ausone,

396-523: The two critics. Less dramatic than the predominant press view, Robinson and Parker currently have a cordial relationship. 44°53′03″N 0°08′59″W  /  44.8843°N 0.1496°W  / 44.8843; -0.1496 Ch%C3%A2teau Ausone Château Ausone is a Bordeaux wine from Saint-Émilion appellation , previously ranked Premier Grand Cru Classé (A) in the Classification of Saint-Émilion wine but does not hold this rank after

418-465: The winery and in their vineyards. Rolland is among the wine personalities satirised next to Robert Parker in the 2010 bande dessinée comic book , Robert Parker: Les Sept Pêchés capiteux . From his consulting work and media presence, Michel Rolland has influenced many aspects of both the French and global wine industry . Among the prominent wine personalities that have been influenced by Rolland

440-455: Was elevated to Premier Grand Cru Classé (A) status, which made it one of four such Saint-Émilion producers. The 2003 vintage of Pavie was a flashpoint in the debate about the " Parkerization of wine ". This drought year was always going to exacerbate the Perse style of concentrated, alcoholic wines. Jancis Robinson reviewed it thus: "Completely unappetising overripe aromas. Why? Porty sweet. Port

462-516: Was sold not as Lascombes itself, but as the inferior Chevalier de Lascombes." Today, Echikson contends, that even the Chevalier (the second wine of the estate) is better than the old full-fledged Lascombes. Rolland features prominently in the critical 2004 documentary Mondovino by Jonathan Nossiter as an agent of wine globalization . In Mondovino , Rolland is seen on several occasions advising his clients to microoxygenate their wines, including

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484-616: Was the loss of two Saint-Émilion first growths , Château Canon and Château La Gaffelière , due to conflict in style with the owners and Rolland. According to Rolland, the loss "calmed him down" and brought him out of an awkward stage in his early career. Twenty years later, the two chateaux returned to be part of the more than 100 wineries who employ Michel Rolland as their consultant. In his book Noble Rot: A Bordeaux Wine Revolution , William Echikson writes that before Michel Rolland became consultant to Château Lascombes , it "produced about 500,000 bottles of mediocre wine, about half of which

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