Ch.Valandraud 1999 750ml

Wine Advocate #229, Mar 01, 2017
The 1999 Valandraud has a dark color and seems very youthful for its age. It is very concentrated and heady with copious dark cherry and blackcurrant fruit, a touch of camphor, crème de cassis and later, a hint of Japanese nori. The palate is medium-bodied with ripe, rounded black fruit. It has a sweet core of black fruit tinged with charcoal, moderate acidity, quite caressing in mouth albeit missing the complexity that I was hoping for. Perhaps it will develop a little more personality with bottle age, as there is good substance here. Tasted December 2016.

Chateau Valandraud, or Chateau de Valandraud, is an unclassed Bordeaux wine producer situated in the Saint- Emilion appellation. The winery is located on the Right Bank of France's Bordeaux wine region in the commune of Saint-Emilion.
The winery also produces the second wines, Virginie de Valandraud and 3 de Valandraud, and the Kosher wine Chateau Valandraud Kosher.
In 1989 Jean-Luc Thunevin and his wife Murielle Andraud bought a 0.6-hectare (1.5-acre) plot in Saint - Emilion near Chateau Pavie-Macquin. Further plots in the region were acquired over the years, in locations such as Saint-Sulpice-de-Faleyrens and Saint- tienne-de-Lisse, and a former garage to be used as a winery, releasing the first vintage in 1991 of 1,500 bottles priced at �13. Exemplified as a typical "microchateau", Thunevin is closely associated with the "garagiste" movement, and the wine is described as the pioneer "Vin de garage". In 1995, Valandraud was given a better rating by Robert Parker than Chateau Pétrus, and by 1997 the Valandraud bottle price was set at �91. The 2005 vintage was set at �165.
The Thunevins have since taken on several projects, including the first "garage wine"' of Médoc, Marojallia, and acting as négociant distributor for several estates from Bordeaux, Languedoc-Roussillon and elsewhere, including Chateau Ausone, Gracia, Harlan Estate and Dominio de Pingus.

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