Nicole and her husband Xavier discovered the Chêne Bleu property in the early 1990s – an abandoned medieval priory in the middle of the UNESCO Biosphere in the hills above Gigondas, in which the Rolets saw potential to create world-class wine from the abandoned vineyard. Years of painstaking redevelopment later, Nicole, Xavier and their brother- and sister-in-law Jean-Louis and Benedicte Gallucci, saw their first vintage in 2006 and introduced Chêne Bleu to the market soon after. Truly a family enterprise, Nicole heads up the winery and oversees all facets herself, while the rest of the extended family hand-tends and hand-crafts the wines. In the last few years, she has also set up the Extreme Wine Course, an intensive wine education programme held on the Chêne Bleu property over just six days every year.