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Wine Description
The Story
In 1989, Jean-Luc Thunevin and Murielle Andraud became the proud owners of a small plot of land of 0,6 ha, in the valley of Saint Emilion, between Pavie Macquin and La Clotte. In 1991 they produced and bottled their first vintage. Since then, their estate portfolio has grown with properties in Saint Christophe des Bardes, Saint Sulpice de Faleyrens or Saint Etienne de Lisse.
In the early days, wine critics nicknamed their production « garage wine », but even as Château Valandraud had not –yet- entered the Saint Emilion classification, it was considered by most wine critics, including Robert Parker, as playing in Bordeaux major league.
In 2012, Château Valandraud has been promoted as a 1st classified growth of Saint Emilion.
In 2017, Château Valandraud became a full member of Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux.
Because garage wines do not often grow in the best possible land, the vineyards must work twice as hard as others to reach top quality. Valandraud's cultivations are scattered around Saint-Emilion, which means that the soils are significantly different. Winemaker Dalmasso says: –We have plenty of choice in the blending stage. Only 20–30 per cent of our wines go to Château Valandraud, and the rest to Virginie de Valandraud and 3 de Valandraud.
We work as ecologically as possible, but unfortunately, a hundred per cent organic operation is not a realistic alternative due to the climate. Harvest method: hand picked Winemaking: grapes are stemmed manually, then bursted in ahand-crusher. Fermentation in oak vasts. Malolactic fermentation in new oak barrels.
Surface: 8.88 hectares Soil : clayey limstone
Grape varieties 65 % Merlot, Cabernet Franc 25 %, Cabernet Sauvignon 5%, Malbec 4%, Carmenère 1%
Average age of the vines : 30 ans
Manual harvest, several sorting including Tribaie.technology
Vinification in thermo gerulated stainless steel , concrete and wooden tanks , Malolactic fermentation in barrels.
Ageing: 18 to 30 months in new barrels Production: 150 00 bottles
Blending may differ accordin to vintage
Vintage 2021
NEWS: BORDEAUX 2021 VINTAGE by Pros: What do the critics think?
Antonio Galloni, Vinous: “The 2021 Bordeaux turned out to be such a surprise. The weather conditions were difficult, and yet the best properties turned out magnificent and classic wines that will absolutely delight readers who appreciate freshness and energy. The restrained alcohols and mid-weight structures will remind readers of Bordeaux before the 2000s. The best wines offer a striking combination of old-school classicism with modern precision. The quality is inconsistent, however, so choosing carefully is essential. Still, there's a lot to love about 2021."
At the Wine Advocate, William Kelley was one of the first to publish his report on the vintage, with largely positive comments on the region's top estates. He underlines his thoughts by reminding his readers: “We may have lost the habit of tasting wines with a moderate alcohol level and a classic pH en primeur, but anyone who appreciates the great Bordeaux reference wines of the 1980s and 1990 should seriously think about what the 2021s might have to offer in 10-15 years. It’s a style of wine that could come from nowhere else. »
Matthew Jukes: “In many cases they can rightly be said to have triumphed over Mother Nature through their tenacity, experience and tireless work ethic, and the best wines are singular in their purity, freshness and their unusual resonance... If a château has a noble terroir, a fully dedicated team, cutting-edge technology (to sort clean, pure, ripe fruit from the weaker berries) and a slice of luck, then it doesn't there is no excuse not to make fabulous wine... This is a classic example of a vintage where each wine must be tasted individually... Suffice it to say, I have found some exquisite wines in 2021, and they are all pure, long, refreshing, perfectly elegant and refined, and the quintessence of the vineyard plots from which they were harvested.
Decanter's Georgie Hindle also notes the marked contrasts with recent blockbuster vintages: "It's not a big, opulent, sumptuous year [...] The heat and sunlight just haven't been enough to produce the sunny fruits, high alcohol and uber glamor on display in great vintages like 2016 and 2018. However, what we get instead is freshness and elegance, racy acidity, more spirits weak, balance where it is successful and a real sense of terroir and grape signatures in the glass. She also reminds us of the benefit of this more restrained style: “It is likely that they will present earlier consumption opportunities compared to more robust and mellow vintages. »
Jane Anson (who has the advantage of being based full-time in Bordeaux) had several ideas about who would inevitably be more successful in 2021. The first came down to the estate's resources: "It's undoubtedly a vintage which rewards estates that have a talented team of full-time collaborators who work in the vineyards throughout the year, and who know their terroir. It rewarded skillful and timely decision-making. Those who subcontracted vineyard work were at a disadvantage. » The best wines of the vintage revealed in his opinion: “Classic balance and lower alcohols. Malic acid levels were high at harvest, but after malolactic fermentation, pH and acidity levels were overall classically balanced, resulting in wines that were fruity and supple in texture. And finally, unlike vintages where all the hard work could be done in the vineyard, the complex work in 2021 only continued in the cellar, “Skillful winemaking. We have gotten into the habit of repeating that wine is made in the vineyard. This is of course still true, but in 2021 it was abundantly clear that the best wines are also sometimes made in cellars.
Honest Grapes: Let’s not forget the white ones either. The quality here is more consistent than the reds, and Jancis Robinson proclaims that "in general, the dry whites are brilliantly crisp, aromatic and well-defined with ample fruit, while the sweet whites are some of the best ever, though that most of them are produced in catastrophic quantities.” Haut Brion & La Mission produced sensational whites, among the “finest sets of dry whites since 2017” for William Kelley. Meanwhile, Georgie Hindle reports that "the whites are excellent and perhaps more consistent across the board, with plenty of freshness, vibrancy and clarity on the palate."
