CHÂTEAU VALANDRAUD
2015 Grand Cru Saint Emilion
Only seen once, and fleetingly. Very thick and plush, then some concentrated intensity, but no character: it could have come from anywhere. Shame, would love to have seen a better sample. Rating: ? L&S (Apr 2016)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
Plenty of toasty oak and extract here. This has immensely concentrated fruits with powerful yet silky tannins. Blackberry and dark-plum aromas dominate the nose with hints of dark chocolate and candied orange. Flavors follow suit amid fluid, muscular tannins that hold long into the finish. Great wine. Drinking range: 2023 - Rating: 98 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Feb 2018)
Jean-Luc Thunevin has made an ambitiously structured Valandraud in 2015: rich, supple and super ripe with plenty of dark berry concentration, lashings of oak and sturdy tannins. Time will tell if there’s enough acidity to keep the wine fresh in bottle. Drinking range: 2022 - 2030 Rating: 91 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (May 2016)
New label. Very dark crimson. Almost roasted nose seems rather vieux jeu. Salty and sweet. Pushed to the limit. Sweet and sour impression. Not one of my favourite styles but I'm sure it will find favour with some palates. Awfully demanding and dry on the end. Though it certainly is concentrated. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 16.5 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2016)
85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Ripe, bright and dense dark fruit and spice aromas. Layered fruit on the palate with a real vibrancy – lots of energy. Texture smooth and velvety and tannins extremely fine. Persistent finish. Tension as always but with ripe tannins and generous fruit to give it harmony. Drinking range: 2023 - 2040 Rating: 94 James Lawther MW, decanter.com (Apr 2016)
The 2015 Chateau Valandraud is founded upon Jean-Luc Thunevin's ever-reliable Merlot parcels, and this year the blend is augmented with 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. It has a glorious and damn irresistible bouquet of crème de cassis, blueberry, crushed violets and a scintilla of citrus fruit, all beautifully defined and very precise. In 2015 it is determined to put a gap between itself and the Virginie de Valandraud. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, creamy in texture but not in the slightest cloying. The acidity is well judged with layers of caressing black fruit towards a finish for which I could only deploy the word - nubile. This will be a stunning Valandraud to savor over the next couple of decades, though it will be difficult to resist temptation in its youth. Drinking range: 2022 - 2045 Rating: 95-97 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
Deep, and beautifully layered, the 2015 Valandraud offers fabulous richness to match its seamless, alluring personality. Crème de cassis, blackberry jam, spice, licorice, menthol and lavender give the 2015 much of its unctuous feel. Silky tannins help reinforce an impression of opulence. As always, Valandraud is one of the most exotic, intense wines in Saint-Émilion, and yet, all the elements are very nicely woven together. The 2015 is 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, all fermented in barrel. Rating: 93-96 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
I tasted this barrel sample in Jean-Luc Thunevin's garage. In my experience Jean-Luc's wines are some of the least 'finished' barrel samples, on occasion being no more than tentative blends, with no press wine blended. I expect that is probably true in this vintage. having said that, the wines show a very consistent style from one year to the next. This is full of dark, smoky fruit aromatics, with roasted berry skins, toasted almonds, pure essence of crushed black cherry and liquorice. This is clearly a very intense, concentrated barrel sample. There is an immediate substance on the start of the palate, fresh and very richly textured, with a very pure, impressive depth of fruit. I get more toasted black plums, crushed black cherries, smoky toasted fruits, fresh and pure, but clearly very concentrated. The tannins are very ripe but very substantial, certainly wrapping up the fruit at the moment, with a firm composition, real iron-fist-velvet-glove stuff here. Very impressive. Rating: 17.5-18.5/20 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2016)
Displays beautiful fruit from the start, with cassis, raspberry and boysenberry notes moving together seamlessly, carried by a polished structure through the caressing finish. Seriously pure. Rating: 94—97 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2016)
A fabulous Valandraud with verve and distinction. So much bright blackberry, mineral and dark chocolate character. Full and ultra-silky textured. Powerful and balanced finish. A joy to taste. Purity. Greatest Valandraud ever. 85% merlot, 10% cabernet franc and 5% cabernet sauvignon. Rating: 98-99 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Mar 2016)
Château Valandraud
Among the garagiste wineries of the 1990’s, none was more garagiste than Château Valandraud. When Jean-Luc Thunevin and his wife Murielle bought a couple of tiny plots of wines in 1989, the only place they had to make their wine was in a garage in the back streets of St Emilion village. The better of the two plots was 0.6ha just outside the village squashed between Pavie-Macquin and Le Clotte in a little valley called the Vallon de Fongaban – tacking the “Val” from Vallon on to Murielle’s maiden name – Andraud – they came up with the name Valandraud. Necessity as much as thirst for quality meant that practically everything was done meticulously by hand. The first release was in 1991. The 1992 was released at First Growth kinds of prices, which turned heads and set Château Valandraud on the path to cult status. Gradually more vineyard has been purchased including the previously obscure Château Bel-Air-Ouÿ in Saint-Etienne-de-Lisse, way out east near the border with the Côtes de Castillon, meaning Château Valandraud now has a château. With the purchase of Bel-Air-Ouÿ, it is interesting to note that the majority of this undoubtedly great estate’s vineyards lie far outside the established area of the St Emilion plateau. Valandraud’s meteoric rise was crowned by its elevation from nowhere to Premier Grand Cru Classé (B) status in the 2012 St Emilion classification, and few would bet against the B being turned into an A if St Emilion can bear the turmoil of a further classification in the future. The vineyards are around 70% Merlot, with anything from 65% to 100% going into the main cuvée. Most of the rest of the vineyards are Cabernet Franc, but there are smaller plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Carmenère. The wine is aged in 100% new oak. There are, also, around 2ha of vineyard dedicated to white wine production. Aside from Château Valandraud, there is Virginie de Valandraud which is often described as the second wine of the estate but Thunevin insist it is more of an alternative cuvée with Le 3 de Valandraud being the actual second wine.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those of the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do call us, but see the 'practical notes' below.
Ordering
Prices are per case as listed 'in bond London'.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment from you to buy the wines you order on release, subject to the price being below the upper price of the estimated band on our website. You may also set your own upper price limit, lower or higher than ours. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability. Providing this firm commitment to us effectively gives you priority.
Wines listed on the website (after any pre-orders and allocations have been fulfilled) can be ordered in the usual way via the website order form or by email or telephone 020 7221 1982, always subject to stock remaining.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are contractually binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of the confirmation date, apart from pre-orders which are binding if the release price is below the top estimate or other price you have set.
Invoices are raised at the In Bond price, excluding any duty and VAT which will become payable at the prevailing rates on arrival of the wine if required duty paid.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or credit transfer. We reserve the right to charge 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £1000, orders below this total will be charged £16.50+ VAT when the wine invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery for 2016 Bordeaux primeurs will probably be completed by October 2019, but we make no guarantee as to specific delivery times, and some of the Sauternes may be later.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes) for immediate payment. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option, but do please note that confirmed orders are still binding as above even if the final invoice has not been issued.
When the wine is shipped, unless previously specified we will assume that delivery is to be to bonded storage with Elephant Storage, but in any case, we will contact you requesting any alternative instructions. If you have another bonded delivery address you would like the wine to go to, please tell us at the time of ordering. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue invoices at the rates prevailing at the time for the excise duty (currently £25.98 per case) and the VAT (currently at 20%) on the total of the wine cost and the duty.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the bottle size you want. Even if a wine is only listed in one size, you can order any bottle or case size you want if the property supplies it, but you must order the case/bottle size you require and check that the correct size has been invoiced.
Additional charges are as follows:-
- +£15 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£15 per case of 6 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£35 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£45 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.