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Michel Rolland launches Bordeaux-style multi-blend cuvée

05 April 2023 By Arabella Mileham

Legendary winemaking consultant Michel Rolland has launched a premium Bordeaux-style red wine that uses grapes from estates across three different continents that will see the 2016 vintage released in May.

Pangaea was formed as a new partnership between Rolland and Canadian-born South African investor Travis Braithwaite, who said he wanted to “highlighting the terroirs of the world, and how they interconnect”, according to a report by Jane Anson.

The project goes back to 2012, with the inaugural 2015 vintage release in very small quantities (just 2,250 bottles globally) last September. The 2016 vintage (again, only 2,500 bottles, Anson said) will be released during VinExpo Singapore in May, retailing for €500 per bottle.

The blend comprises Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley, Merlot from the Right Bank in Bordeaux, Petit Verdot from Dehesa del Carrizal ‘Vino de Pago’ in Spain, Cabernet Franc from Helderberg, South Africa and Malbec from the Uco Valley in Argentina, which are produced and barrel-aged in their region of origin, before being transported in individual stainless steel double-walled containers by ship to Napa Valley, where Rolland creates the blend before it is aged.

“Even though each area has been shaped by its own story and centuries of history and lessons, I want to show the harmony of bringing them together,” Braithwaite reportedly told Anson. “This is a wine made from centuries of knowledge and skills from some of the oldest regions of the world. And each variety is individually focused on and created from terroir that is best suited for its growth.”

According to its UK importer IG Wines, the wine has the potential to become a “cult classic”.

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