Château Valandraud, or Château de Valandraud, is

Bordeaux wine Bordeaux wine ( oc, vin de Bordèu, french: vin de Bordeaux) is produced in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, around the city of Bordeaux, on the Garonne River. To the north of the city the Dordogne River joins the Garonne forming the b ...

producer situated in the Saint-Émilion

appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

, promoted to ''Premier Grand Cru Classé'' in the 2012 Classification of Saint-Emilion wine. The

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

is located on the Right Bank of France’s Bordeaux wine region in the commune of Saint-Émilion. The winery also produces the

second wine Second wine or second label (French: ''Second vin'') is a term commonly associated with Bordeaux wine to refer to a second label wine made from '' cuvee'' not selected for use in the ''Grand vin'' or first label. In some cases a third wine or ev ...

s, Virginie de Valandraud and 3 de Valandraud, and the

Kosher wine Kosher wine () is wine that is produced in accordance with '' halakha'', and more specifically ''kashrut'', such that Jews will be permitted to pronounce blessings over and drink it. This is an important issue, since wine is used in several J ...

Château Valandraud Kosher.

History

In 1989 Jean-Luc Thunevin and his wife Murielle Andraud bought a plot in Saint-Émilion near Château Pavie-Macquin. Further plots in the region were acquired over the years, in locations such as Saint-Sulpice-de-Faleyrens and Saint-Étienne-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 ''"microchâteau"'',winepros.com.au. 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

Château Pétrus Pétrus is a Bordeaux, France, wine estate located in the Pomerol appellation near its eastern border to Saint-Émilion. A small estate of just , it produces a red wine entirely from Merlot grapes (since the end of 2010), and produces no ...

, 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 The Médoc (; oc, label= Gascon, Medòc ) is a region of France, well known as a wine growing region, located in the '' département'' of Gironde, on the left bank of the Gironde estuary, north of Bordeaux. Its name comes from ''( Pagus) Med ...

, Marojallia, and acting as ''négociant'' distributor for several estates from Bordeaux,

Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; oc, Lengadòc-Rosselhon ; ca, Llenguadoc-Rosselló) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania. It comprised five departments, and b ...

and elsewhere, including

Château Ausone Château Ausone is a Bordeaux wine from Saint-Émilion appellation, previously ranked Premier Grand Cru Classé (A) in the Classification of Saint-Émilion wine but does not hold this rank after the 2022 reclassification. The winery is loca ...

, Gracia, Harlan Estate and

Dominio de Pingus Dominio de Pingus is a Spanish winery located in Quintanilla de Onésimo in Valladolid province with vineyards in La Horra area of the Ribera del Duero region. The estate's flagship wine, Pingus, is considered a "cult wine", sold at extremely hi ...

. Jean-Luc Thunevin is among the wine personalities

satirised Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...

next to Robert Parker in the 2010 ''bande dessinée'' comic book, '' Robert Parker: Les Sept Pêchés capiteux''.Kakaviatos, Panos, ''Decanter.com'' (October 12, 2010)
Robert Parker 'honoured' by merciless cartoon satire
/ref>

Production

The vineyard area currently extends , with the grape varieties composed of 65%

Merlot Merlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of ''merle'', the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to t ...

, 30%

Cabernet Franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire's Chinon. In addition to being use ...

, 5%

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Leban ...

and 5%

Malbec Malbec () is a purple grape variety used in making red wine. The grapes tend to have an inky dark color and robust tannins, and are known as one of the six grapes allowed in the blend of red Bordeaux wine. In France, plantations of Malbec are n ...

. The annual production of the ''Grand Vin'' is typically 15,000 to 20,000 bottles. Other labels produced include the Virginie de Valandraud, 3 de Valandraud, Château Valandraud Kosher, Blanc de Valandraud N° 1 and N° 2, Bad Boy, and the declassified non-vintage ''

vin de table Table wine (rarely abbreviated TW) is a wine term with two different meanings: a style of wine and a quality level within wine classification. In the United States, the term primarily designates a wine style: an ordinary wine which is not fort ...

'' L’Interdit de V……d which was not allowed by INAO to vintage date the 2000 harvest or be designated as a Saint-Émillion wine.

References

External links

Ets. Thunevin official site

Jean-Luc Thunevin's Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valandraud, Chateau Bordeaux wine producers