France: Rolland ‘sad’ to sell Le Bon Pasteur

(TheDrinksBusiness) - Bordeaux’s most prominent consultant, Michel Rolland, has admitted that he was sad to have to sell his Pomerol-based family château, Le Bon Pasteur, to a Chinese businessman.

Speaking exclusively to the drinks business at the UK launch of his new Spanish wine project – R&G – Rolland said: “Of course it was sad to sell it as it’s been in our family since the ‘20s, but we’re not the first family in Bordeaux to sell and we won’t be the last.

“I knew it would happen so I was prepared for it. I’m still a shareholder and still do a lot for the estate – I’m still the winemaker and estate manager.

“Le Bon Pasteur was a family problem – I knew for years that I was going to have to sell the property because my brother wanted to get his share of the money out.

“While the value of the property is quite high, the income you get from it is almost zero so my brother wanted out and we had to sell.

“I did what I could to keep it until the economic situation improved and we could get a better price for it, and managed to hold the sale off for five years,” he said.

Despite his candour, Rolland remained tight-lipped about how much he sold the estate for, as well as the price paid for two other properties – Château Rolland-Maillet in St-Emilion and Château Bertineau St Vincent in Lalande Pomerol.