A new Rolland in New York

Virginie Rolland, the 31 year-old niece of the hugely influential wine consultant, Michel Rolland, has just opened her own wine importing business in New York.

Virginie Rolland

While her uncle is famed for his high-rolling, Parker-friendly wines from Bordeaux and beyond to the four corners of the planet, Ms Rolland has focused on the Languedoc. “I think you can find good value for quality there at US$15 – 25. Most Americans will spend over US$25 just for the week-end or for a present,” she explained.

Before setting up on her own as Virginie Rolland Selection, she acted as a wine agent and before that spent five months working for her uncle in Argentina and the Napa valley. Originally from Bordeaux, she moved to New York in 2012 and feels: “The majority of people here find Bordeaux too expensive and too confusing. I think people are interested in different stories and not just 100 points from Parker of the Wine Spec. Buyers still look at them and of course they’re a reference, but in future I’d like my wines to be in liquor stores where they give advice, rather than just scores.”

At present Ms Rolland lists 17 wines, with just four from Bordeaux, including Dame de Coeur du Château Peyfaures, a pure Merlot made by Michel Rolland’s team. As she told Lettie Teague of the Wall Street Journal, in what could be a riposte to Miles in the film ‘Sideways’: “I love Merlot. It is very feminine.”