Pictured above: A photo taken on May 31, 2022, of Jonathan Cristaldi and Michel Rolland.

Michel was always so kind, so generous with his time, and so attentive and engaging in interviews. I got to know him through our interviews. And early in my career, when I was far from a known critic for Decanter or Tasting Panel Magazine, on assignment to talk to him about Clos de Los Siete or another project, he gave me plenty of time and his full attention. Permit me to tell one story: When we first sat together in the post-COVID world to taste and talk about Pangaea Estates, I was recovering from Covid. I couldn’t smell. So I couldn’t taste. I could talk about tactile sensations for days, and that’s what we did. He loved it. I recall how excited he was to talk about texture. In his thick French accent, in English, he said, “I don’t give a f—k about the blueberry and blackberry and cherry and all that. I’m looking for textures. I’m looking for sensations. Because all those flavors will change. The textures will too, but the texture is what matters.” And it was a master class in tasting texture from the master blender himself. I’ll never forget that day, or what he taught me, or how absolutely fun it was to spend several hours with him. 

I can also say with confidence, having tasted so many of his wines, that when you pick up a glass of wine influenced by Rolland, there is an unmistakable polish to it—fluidity with a panoply of inviting textures. He was the glue binding all corners of the wine world.