2019 Chateau Rolland-Maillet Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

The name on this label is the most consequential in modern winemaking. Michel Rolland — born in Libourne on Christmas Eve, 1947, in what would become the century's greatest Right Bank vintage — grew up at his family's Pomerol estate, Château Le Bon Pasteur, studied under the legendary Émile Peynaud, and went on to become the world's first "flying winemaker." Over a fifty-five-year career he advised some 150 estates across more than twenty countries: Harlan, Screaming Eagle, Masseto, Ausone, Angélus, Pontet-Canet. Robert Parker was his ally and amplifier. His critics called his style too ripe, too polished, too everywhere. He never much cared. "I never look for a style," he told The Drinks Business. "I'm looking for the best wine in the location where I am."

Rolland consulted for hundreds of châteaux. He put his name on three. Château Rolland-Maillet was a family property, and when his father died in 1979 Michel took over running it alongside Le Bon Pasteur. He sold a majority stake in all three Right Bank estates to Pan Sutong's Goldin Group in 2013 but stayed on as consultant, with the technical team continuing under his direction and that of his wife, Dany. He was still consulting here when the 2019 was picked. He died in Bordeaux on March 20, 2026, of a heart attack, at seventy-eight.

Which leaves a very small vineyard carrying a very large name. Three hectares of clay and gravel on the Pomerol border, forty-year-old vines, 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc — the identical blend to Le Bon Pasteur, the Pomerol estate where he was raised. Tasting the 2019, James Suckling ended his note with a question: "Best ever?" Rolland had been shaping wine at this address, in one role or another, since 1979. If Suckling was right, the man got there in his final decade.