Wine heros

Frédéric Cossard is one of Burgundy’s defining independent voices: a producer who came to wine from outside the usual family-domaine system, learned the region vineyard by vineyard as a broker, and then built a reputation on uncompromising farming, native-yeast fermentations, whole clusters, and wines bottled without added sulfur. The bottles now available at Symbolic Wines show the full reach of his work—from Volnay, Chambolle-Musigny, and Morey-Saint-Denis to Morgon, the southern Rhône, and Jura—without losing the unmistakable thread of his style: purity of fruit, tactile detail, and a willingness to let a wine retain its edges.

“Laisse Tomber” literally means “let it fall” in French, but for Bastian Wolber it became a manifesto: accept the accident, follow the fruit, and make the most honest, transparent wines you can from whatever great terroir life puts in front of you.

Michel Rolland, the globetrotting Bordeaux oenologist whose consulting reshaped premium wines worldwide, died on March 20, 2026, from a sudden heart attack at age 78. Born on December 24, 1947, in Libourne, France, he grew up on his family's Château Le Bon Pasteur estate in Pomerol, immersing himself in Right Bank Merlot culture.

Daniel Cathiard, the visionary owner of Château Smith Haut Lafitte and a gentle giant of the Bordeaux wine world, passed away in the night from Wednesday to Thursday, at the age of 81.