The local bad boy of Bordeaux, Jean-Luc Thunevin, continues to fashion truly brilliant wines, and his 2019 is no exception. Based largely on Merlot with small amount of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2019 Château Valandraud is a deep purple-hued beauty offering up a kaleidoscope-like bouquet of black and blue fruits, scorched earth, chocolate, gravelly earth, spicy oak, and sappy flowers. Deep, rich, full-bodied, and wonderfully concentrated, it has insane purity of fruit, brilliant tannins, a stacked mid-palate, and just has everything in the right places. It's up with the top wines of the vintage and a tour de force that readers should snatch up. It shows a very different style than the sexier 2018, but it's every bit as good. It needs 4-5 years of bottle age and will evolve for 2-3 decades.
99 points, Jeb Dunnuck (Apr 2022)
Vivid and focused with brightness and clarity of fruit. Dried flowers, too. Full-bodied with layers of fine, soft tannins that spread across the palate and show class and refinement. It goes on for minutes. A beautiful bottle. Try after 2027, but so attractive already.
98 points, James Suckling (Feb 2022)
The 2019 Valandraud is sensational. Stunning in its delineation and with sheer energy, the 2019 dazzles right out of the gate. Dark red/purplish berry fruit, mocha, new leather, licorice and lavender all come alive in the glass. In 2019, Valandraud is a towering, statuesque wine that captures all the best the vintage had to offer. I tasted the 2019 three times and it was magnificent on all three occasions. It is a tremendous effort from Jean-Luc Thunevin and his Murielle Andraud. What a wine!
97+ points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous (Feb 2022)
The 2019 Valandraud is deep garnet-purple in color. It gallops out with energetic notes of blackberry preserves, kirsch, and wild blueberries plus suggestions of spice cake, dried roses, star anise and forest floor. Concentrated, full-bodied and super-rich, it explodes in the mouth with vibrant black fruit preserves and exotic spices flavors, supported by exquisitely ripe, velvety tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with epic length.
97 points, Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Independent (Apr 2022)
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