Michel Rolland is the world's best-known independent wine consultant, lending his expertise in wine-making and grape-growing to wineries in France and California and to places as far flung as South Africa, India, and South America.

Rolland was in Hawai'i last week for a seminar at O'ahu's Honolulu Design Center and Stage restaurant before a visit to the Big Island, after which he jetted off to South America and South Africa. During an Advertiser interview, his fame was confirmed when a fan interrupted to ask Rolland to autograph a bottle from a producer with whom he had consulted.

The hope of the companies who hire him is that with the aid of Rolland's expertise, their growing practices and the wines they produce will get better. Consulting is the bread and butter of his multifaceted business operations.

"That is my primary job," said Rolland, who proved both charming and witty.

Despite more than 100 clients spread out over five continents, Rolland and his wife, Dany, still maintain an oenology laboratory in their home city of Pomerol, France.

(Oenology is the study of winemaking science, including soil, varietals, harvesting, fermenting, and aging.)

The two also own or have an interest in estates in France, Spain, South Africa, and Argentina, organized under the Rolland Collection name — "my second jobs," he said.

His eldest daughter, Stephanie, and her husband help manage The Rolland Collection.

THE EARLY YEARS

Rolland grew up in the winemaking business in Pomerol, where his father ran the family estate, Chateau le Bon-Pasteur, a highly esteemed Bordeaux winemaker. In middle-class French country families, it was commonplace for the elder son to pursue a more professional track and career, while the younger son, Michel, was expected to take care of the vineyards.

Asked if he regrets the lack of choice, Rolland says, "It was written in the books for me even before I was born, my destiny."

His brother became a lawyer. "Nobody is perfect," he said with a chuckle.

Rolland enrolled at the University of Bordeaux in 1968, where he met his future wife and business partner, Dany, also an oenologist.

"You see," he said, looking at her lovingly, "it's not so bad." When they first met, Dany was not studying winemaking.

"I had to convince her," said Rolland, whose salesmanship obviously started at an early age.

Shortly after graduating in 1971, the Rollands began negotiations to take over a wine laboratory from a childless couple, the Chevriers; they became partners and eventually bought the business. The laboratory allowed them to study the grape-growing and wine-making processes of chateau owners who sent in their wine samples for analyses. It is here where the seeds of Rolland's consultancy were planted.

When his father died in 1979, Rolland took over the estate, but eventually got his first consulting gig in California with Simi Winery, in Sonoma in 1985. He was asked to study how to optimize the region's potential. The rest is history.

Rolland's client list in California includes wineries whose wines are highly sought after: Araujo, Harlan Estate, Bryant Family, and Screaming Eagle.

THE QUALITY FACTOR

When winemakers meet with Rolland, their first question is, "Is there something we can do to improve quality?"

His answer is invariably yes: "There is always something to do."

"In the beginning, no one spoke about quality. Nobody really thought about what the definition of quality was, the way we talk about it today ... good length, good fruit, silky tannins," he said.

"It is easy to make good wine. To take it from good wine to better wine, there are a lot of details. There is no formula or checklist. You have to look at the entire process and step by step you get there. That's my job. I am working mostly on the details."

So what region excites Rolland the most as far as potential is concerned? "Napa Valley, California," he answered without hesitation, because, he says, the wine-making community is both professional and open to new processes.

MISCONCEPTIONS

Rolland's meteoric career has not been without controversy or criticism. The wine world values a grape's fascinating ability to capture the unique sense of place in the finished wine. But Rolland is often portrayed as a maker of rich, high-alcohol, homogenous wines that taste the same no matter where they are made.

Rolland shrugs off this characterization. "People always have these misconceptions about what a consultant does. People are always referring to a Rolland style," he said.

"We are not looking for one type of wine, nor is there a recipe or formula. We are just trying to understand which way to go in order to improve the wine. I have 100 winemakers in front of me, and we are always in blending sessions together." Rolland said that if the winemakers are not comfortable with the final blend, they will often go back and start again.

He is also quick to point out that weather, soil and geographic location all have a lot more influence on the finished product than the consultant. "It is very important for people to understand that the consultant is not the Ayatollah giving advice. We are merely engaging in dialogue between winemaker and consultant," he said.

The proof is in the tasting. At the O'ahu seminar, we tasted a series of wines from France, Argentina and South Africa, many exhibiting unique and interesting characteristics across countries. Some were elegant and some were powerful, or as Rolland said, "A blockbuster wine; the kind that I like."

UNBRIDLED WORK ETHIC

Rolland's lifestyle has many considering him lucky, but the word does not sit well with him. "In life we are not lucky. We have to work, first of all. Where I am lucky is that I actually have the ability to work and that I have the ability to travel. I don't know what jet lag is," he said.

As to the future, Rolland said he dreams of slowing down and focusing on properties in the three countries he enjoys the most: France, Argentina and the U.S. (specifically Napa, Calif.).

"I am getting old," he said.