The guardians
of a styleLa Conseillante has full confidence in the skilled hand of man.
While ever-eager to keep a close eye on the scientific advances
and modern techniques that are evolving on a daily basis,
La Conseillante is careful to exercise common sense, contemplate the magic of soils,
question itself, and meticulously focus on the nuances,
following a clearly defined line and preserving the unique La Conseillante style.
Family-managed
For over a century now, the Nicolas family has placed its trust in the skilled hand of man. Successive vignerons have built on what they have learned from their ancestors while evolving thanks to the technical and scientific progress they have witnessed themselves.
Passing down knowledge and skills is crucial to the preservation of our vineyard. Yet it must also go hand in hand with a constant reassessing of the way we work and farm.
Each generation endeavours to pass its savoir-faire down to the next, to make the right decisions for the vineyard and the cellars, so that our wine may gain even greater purity and precision, while maintaining its identity, with its hallmark finesse, balance and suave velvety texture.
Jean-Valmy NICOLAS has devoted his energies to La Conseillante since 2003 and sought to ensure that the family structure is both successful and inspiring for the generations to come. As joint-General Manager he is actively involved in the estate’s day-to-day work, enthusiastically taking part in the blending of each vintage with Marielle, Bertrand, Patrick and Michel Rolland. He is in charge, together with Marielle, of the distribution of the wines and their release onto the primeurs market. With his cousin Bertrand Nicolas, they have formed a trusted partnership for over 15 years. Having graduated from Paris’s HEC business school, Valmy is an entrepreneur, a manager of an investment fund and the administrator of several small and medium-sized businesses in France. He is also the joint-General Manager of Château Figeac.
Joint-General Manager since 2001, Bertrand Nicolas is a medical GP and naturally watches over the vineyard and every living aspect of its world and eco-system. He takes special charge of the wine production side while sharing with his cousin, Valmy Nicolas, the supervision and collaboration with the La Conseillante team.
The Family Board is made up of the two General Managers, Jean-Valmy Nicolas and Bertrand Nicolas, and Henri Nicolas.
The Family Board is a management and control body, responsible for determining strategy, while delegating the daily execution of it to the Managing Director.
Family Board
Team
Eight people currently work at La Conseillante. Painstaking work is lavished on La Conseillante’s 12 hectares of vines by a committed and caring vineyard team. This “haute couture” type of work is performed both in the vineyard and in the cellars.
Having graduated as an engineer, specialising in viticulture and oenology, at Bordeaux’s ENITA and then as an oenologist at the University of Bordeaux, Marielle Cazaux began her career working as a technical manager in 2004. Her professional experience on both the Left and Right Banks of Bordeaux led her to joining Château Petit-Village in Pomerol. Marielle Cazaux has been the Managing Director of Château La Conseillante since 2015.
Working closely with Jean-Valmy and Bertrand Nicolas, Marielle oversees the work in the vineyard and the cellars and manages the estate and the marketing of its wines.
Born and raised in Pomerol, Michel Rolland needs no introduction. Consultant for numerous estates around the world, he has greatly contributed to the improvement of wines through a more rigorous approach to vine-growing and introducing precision vinification methods. He also owns estates in Pomerol and Fronsac, as well as a number of vineyards abroad! He joined the La Conseillante team as
a consultant in 2013. Michel makes a decisive contribution to the balance of the wines produced at La Conseillante, thanks to his great expertise in blending, to his personality, generosity and to his ability to listen carefully and respond accordingly.
Having gained a BTS diploma in viti-oenologie and worked 15 years at Château Pavie, Patrick has been the cellarmaster of La Conseillante since 2001. Working closely with Marielle Cazaux, he looks after the winemaking process from the harvesting of the grapes until the bottling of the wine. A huge fan of Pomerol wines, Patrick combines traditional methods with state-of-the-art techniques to bring out the distinct organoleptic characteristics of the wines of La Conseillante.
“The finest qualities of La Conseillante
are its elegance and its finesse…,
nothing should be done to stop these qualities
expressing themselves to the full.”
Pascal Ribereau-Gayon,
Consultant oenologist at La Conseillante from 1980
and Dean of the Faculty of OEnology of the University of Bordeaux
Consultant Œnologists
At the request of the Nicolas family, several experts have contributed their knowledge and advice over the years at La Conseillante.
The following have worked alongside the teams at La Conseillante: Professors Emile Peynaud and Pascal Ribereau-Gayon, then Gilles Pauquet and Jean-Claude Berrouet.
In 2013, Michel Rolland, a native of Pomerol, joined the La Conseillante team as a consultant.
Consultant Œnologists
