Wine and spirits masterpieces to your doorstep
Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé B
USA & Europe: Free delivery from 1000$/€. Our prices are all tax and duties included, there are no additional fees.
Secure packaging and transport insurance
The Château Valandraud has an unusual history, to say the least. It is a Domaine that was built from scratch by its self-taught founder Jean-Luc Thunevin, a former banker and merchant in Saint-Emilion, and his wife Murielle Andraud, with passion and determination. Wanting to make wine according to their own ideas, they bought a 0.6 hectare plot in the Fongaban valley of Saint-Emilion. The name of Domaine will thus be inspired by its geographical location, "Val", coupled with Muriel's family name, "andraud".
The release of their first vintage in 1991 will be a success. Having entirely vinified it in a small artisanal vat room set up in their garage, they will be at the origin of the expression "Garage Wine". Today, Domaine has reached a size of 8.8 hectares, the wines born from the alliance between tradition, modernity and innovation. A new state-of-the-art semi-buried vat house, perfectly integrated into the vineyard landscape, will in fact see the light of day for the 2021 harvest.
The Château Valandraud will be promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classé at the 6th edition of the Saint-Emilion classification in 2012, crowning the efforts undertaken by the owners at their true value.
The Château Valandraud watches over an 8.8-hectare vineyard planted on clay-limestone soils, and the grape variety is 65% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Malbec. The wines are aged from 18 to 30 months in 100% new barrels.
The Second wine of Château is named after the owners' daughter, Virginie de Valandraud.
The Château Valandraud offers concentrated, velvety wines with great freshness. Like its history, they offer a unique personality in the world of the great Bordeaux.
The 2019 vintage is a beautiful wine year for Bordeaux, very sunny. Given the variability of the situations that the vineyard experienced for this season, including a very hot summer and alternating cool nights and sunny days in September and October, today we can say that it is a great vintage. The grapes were extremely qualitative: colorful, loaded with tannins and aromatic potential.
Blend of the vintage 2019: 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon
The robe is a very dark red color, almost black, decorated with beautiful ruby highlights slightly tiled.
The nose is expressive and complex, with notes of black fruits, cherry and blackcurrant, followed by pepper and a greedy toasted woodiness that is so recognizable at Valandraud.
The attack is precise and elegant, revealing a fleshy, dense wine with a beautiful freshness. The tannins are structured and silky, enveloping flavors of jammy black fruits, truffle and cocoa. Very well balanced, it blooms on a long persistent and racy finish, signing a Château Valandraud of pure pleasure.
Food and wine pairing:
Château Valandraud 2019 will perfectly accompany a fillet of beef with a black Périgord truffle sauce, a minute sliced venison with boletus, a roasted Corrèze veal knuckle with Bresse butter, poultry ballotines with porcini mushrooms or a duck tournedos Rossini.
For a pairing with cheese, choose uncooked pressed cheeses: Edam, Gouda, Saint-nectaire, morbier, Tomme de Savoie or Salers.
For dessert, the pairing will be delicious with a pistachio and chocolate dessert, a black forest or Pierre Hermé's 2000 feuilles.
Cellaring potential and tasting:
Château Valandraud 2019 has excellent aging potential, being able to wait between 2030 and 2035 to refine and reach its peak.
However, it can be enjoyed wonderfully today, 2019 is a vintage of very good drinkability. To do this, take care to place the bottle the night before in the serving room at room temperature and open it, so that the wine expresses its full potential. If not, open it and decant it ideally 5 to 6 hours before tasting.
The bottles will be kept in the cellar protected from light, lying down, at an optimal hygrometric degree of 70 %.
