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  • Country ranking ?

    1 188
  • Producer ranking ?

    25
  • Decanting time

    2h
  • When to drink

    2020-2035
  • Food Pairing

    Beef

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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 « garag...

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Wine Information

In 1989, Jean-Luc Thunevin and Murielle Andraud bought a small 0.6-hectare plot of vines, with the dream of making great St. Emilion wine. The name of the estate is personal: Valandraud is a combination of the location and something more meaningful. The Val comes from Vallon de Fongaban, the second part, Andraud, is Murielle’s maiden name.

Things have changed at the estate since its birth. They Andraud’s have acquired more land and, perhap...

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Vintage 2011

The 2011 vintage is not easy to handle.

Smith Haut Lafitte not only makes great white and red wine from Bordeaux in Pessac Léognan, they are also at the cutting edge of technology. They were one of the first Bordeaux wine producers to begin using optical sorting, which came in handy with the difficult 2011 Bordeaux harvest. Fabien Teitgen, long-time general manager, joined us for a long detailed conversation about what happened at Smith Hau...

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Tasting note

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Written Notes

Tasted four times - last time in August 2019. Not consistent notes. It offered extremely complex nose of black cherries with great intensity, length, depth and structure on the palate. Very rich and complex wine. This was in March 2015. In August 2019, this wine seemed closed and edgy.

  • 94p

Dark purple red colour. Very refined nose, hints of violets, ripe blackberries, mild spices, discreet hints of liquorice, elegant and persistent. On the palate silky tannins with youthful character, fine acidity, quite typical for its vintage, very convincing length. 

  • 94p
Produced from an assemblage of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, the wine will be aged in 100% new oak and reached 14.5% alcohol. From yields that average of 32.5 hectoliters per hectare, the wine is deep in color with licorice, black cherry, smoke and oak scents that open to a finesse style of Valandraud. Lush in texture, the wine ends with an opulent, sweet, ripe black cherry finish. 92-95 Pts
  • 91p
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Information

Origin

St. Emilion, Bordeaux
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