# Château Rollan de By (2015)

- **Producer:** Domaines Rollan de By
- **Colour:** red
- **Type:** still
- **Grapes:** Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot
- **Region:** Bordeaux, France
- **Style:** Classic
- **Alcohol:** 13.5%
- **Average price:** €19
- **Vegan:** No
- **Contains sulphites:** Yes
- **When to drink:** Now or Later
- **Serving temperature:** 16–18 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** cherry, plum, blackberry, blackcurrant, herbaceous, vanilla, toast, chocolate, smoke, leather, coffee, forest floor, mushroom

## About this wine

Château Rollan de By is a highly regarded estate located in Bégadan, in the northern Médoc region of Bordeaux's Left Bank. The estate's modern history began in 1989 when Jean Guyon, a prominent interior designer, purchased just two hectares of vines. What started as a passion project to make high-quality wines for friends quickly grew into a major success. Over the next three decades, Guyon expanded the estate to 87 hectares. Today, Château Rollan de By is celebrated globally for offering exceptional quality and value, standing out as a benchmark Cru Bourgeois from the Médoc.

## Interesting facts

- Founded in 1989 by Jean Guyon, a famous interior designer who started with just two hectares of vines.
- Unusually for Left Bank Bordeaux, this wine is dominated by 70% Merlot, thriving on the estate's clay-gravel soils.
- The fermentation tanks are custom-designed to be wider than they are tall, maximizing skin-to-juice contact.

## Food pairing

This Merlot-dominant Left Bank Bordeaux pairs beautifully with rich red meats and earthy dishes. The wine's medium-plus tannins and structured acidity cut through the fat of duck confit and rib-eye steak, while its subtle cocoa and dark fruit notes complement earthy mushroom risottos and aged mountain cheeses like Comté.

## Wine making process

The winemaking process at Château Rollan de By combines traditional Bordeaux methods with modern innovation. Grapes are harvested and undergo double sorting, first mechanically and then manually. Fermentation takes place in unique, wide thermo-regulated stainless steel tanks designed by Jean Guyon to maximize skin-to-juice contact. Following a maceration period of four to six weeks, two-thirds of the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in new French oak barrels. The wine is then aged for 12 months in French oak (two-thirds new and one-third one-year-old barrels), with active lees stirring during the first three months to enhance texture.