The Empire Expands More

I should admit at the outset that I have yet to see the viniferous version of Fahrenheit 9/11 known as 'Mondovino' but I have read plenty about it and the various people Mr. Nossiter takes aim it via the lens. Among others, he apparently has a slight bone to pick with one Michel Rolland. For those of you unfamiliar with the name, this man has the 'midas touch' when it comes to winemaking. Of course, this depends on who you talk to and who you believe. And as it turns out, he's not really in the business of making wine. Rather, he carries the ultra-vague, uber-cool, 'pay-me-lots-o-cash' title of the almighty 'Consultant'.

Rolland appointed new Antinori consultant

"We have been friends for over 10 years,' he said. 'Michel started working for me when I created Ornellaia. We are not looking to compete with Ornellaia [which is now owned by fellow Tuscan producer Frescobaldi] but we hope to gain Michel's exclusivity."(emphasis T.t.S.)

I can only believe that the author was trying to be a bit cheeky because the sentence just prior to this paragraph reads as such:

"Antinori said it was not difficult to convince Rolland – who is Bordeaux-based and consults for some 103 wineries in 12 countries – to take the job."

Granted there are plenty of wineries in the world but at what point does one lose one's 'exclusivity'? Is it at winery #105 or winery #2000? But it only gets better:

Rolland will dedicate 4-5 days a year to Campo di Sasso, while Swedish winemaker Helena Lindberg – suggested to Antinori by Ornellaia's ex-winemaker Thomas Duroux, now working for Chateau Palmer in Bordeaux – will be their full-time winemaker.

Wow.

So Señor Rolland swings into Bolgheri for a long weekend, spouts off a couple of things (things that I would suspect the winemaker for Château-friggin'-Palmer already knows) and gets a couple hundred cases of wine, a good size check, and assuming he has a decent agent, probably gets 2%-3% of the gross once a certain someone gives the wine 98 points.

Again, I haven't seen the film, and I won't totally discount Rolland's abilities but maybe Old Man Nossiter wasn't too far off the mark.