Wine Advisor
Valandraud 1997
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 1997 Valandraud is forward and seductive. The wine exhibits an impressively saturated plum/purple color, and sweet black cherry fruit, toasty new oak, spice, and chocolate aromas. It is seamless with a velvety texture, medium to full body, moderate tannin, and a long finish. The wine's low acidity and forward, charming style suggest it should be consumed during its first 12-15 years of life.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Another outstanding effort from this small estate owned by Jean-Luc Thunevin and his wife, the 1997 Valandraud is one of the most extracted wines of the vintage, with elements of over-ripeness (sur-maturite). The wine possesses a dense purple color, and an attractive nose of roasted Provencal herbs, pain grille, black cherries, prunes, and cassis. Medium-bodied, with more grip, delineation, and tannin than most wines of the vintage, this example provides outstanding purity, exceptional ripeness, and plenty of length. The wine, which a friend of mine appropriately called the "archetypical hedonistic wine," should be ready to drink when released, yet age well for 15 years.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
This wine may deserve an outstanding rating. A fine wine, it exhibits a dense ruby/purple color in addition to moderately intense aromas of spice box, licorice, plums, cherries, and toasty oak. Lush, full-bodied, and round, with excellent fruit richness, low acidity, and sweet tannin, it can be drunk now as well as over the next 7-10 years.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted blind at the Valandraud vertical at the property, the 1997 Valandraud has a well-defined bouquet with earthy red berry fruit, iron filing, orange rind and touches of menthol developing with time. The palate is medium-bodied with rather scrawny tannin, fully mature herbaceous fruit with a leafy, rather autumnal finish that does not have immense depth, but at least has sufficient freshness. It actually improved in the glass and yet it never quite delivered that penetration or depth of fruit on the finish. To call it "Valandraud-lite" would be too disparaging, but that is how it comes across after twenty years. Tasted December 2016.
About the Producer
Chateau Valandraud is located in the Saint-Emilion appellation on the right bank of Bordeaux, France. It is a famous pioneer winery of Garage Wine in Bordeaux. One of the most expensive wines in the Loh region. The achievements of Château Valenzo are inseparable from a wine-passionate couple, Jean-Luc Thunevin and Murielle Andraud. This well-known couple in the wine world started out selling wine in the Saint-Emilion region. After their business success, they decided to open up a vineyard of their own and make their own wine. So, in 1989, the couple bought a 0.6-hectare vineyard near Chateau Pavie Macquin and Chateau La Clotte in Saint-Emilion. The winery is named after the place name Vallon de Fongaban and the family name of the hostess Andro. In this way, Valanzo Winery was born. After that, Jean-Luc Touven and Muriel Andrew successively bought several other small vineyards. Today, the winery has 8.88 hectares of vineyards. In 1991, Château Valenzo released its first vintage. And just five years later, the 1995 Château Valandraud (Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classe, France) was awarded 95 points by Robert Parker, the "Wine Emperor". Since then, its value has soared, becoming one of the most expensive wines in Saint-Emilion. In 2012, Valenzo Winery was ranked Saint-Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classe B in the latest Saint-Emilion classification results with its outstanding performance. The winery also joined the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux in 2017. Jean-Luc Tournevin was called "Bordeaux's Black Sheep" by Robert Parker, also known as "Saint-Emilion's Bad Boy". However, these seemingly derogatory titles are an affirmation of his pioneering innovation in winemaking. He created a new style of red Bordeaux wine by further compressing the grape yield, delaying the harvest time, increasing the extraction time and using new oak barrels for long aging. And it is this kind of Varanzo that makes the famous wine critic Michel Bettane give the highest evaluation of "love at first sight". The vineyards of Valenzo Winery have a superior terroir. The soil types in the garden are mainly limestone and clay. The red grape planting includes 65% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Malbec and 1% Carmenere, white grapes are mainly Sauvignon Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Three varieties. To this day, the winery has always adhered to the high requirements for the quality of grapes, and manually screened the wine grapes with extremely strict standards. In terms of brewing, the winery has achieved a combination of tradition and modern technology. Grapes are harvested by hand when they reach their peak ripeness and undergo a first screening in the vineyard, followed by an extremely rigorous secondary screening in the winemaking workshop. The selected grapes undergo alcoholic fermentation in different vessels (stainless steel tanks, concrete tanks and oak barrels), followed by a three-week maceration, during which the skins are manually pressed to fully extract the color, tannins and flavor substances. The wine is then placed in oak barrels for Malolactic Fermentation. Next, the wine will be matured for 18-30 months in 100% new French oak barrels. The winery spends huge sums of money to replace expensive new oak barrels every year. Finally, the wine is bottled without filtration and clarification. Valenzo Winery's authentic wine-Valanzo Winery's red wine is gorgeous in style, rich in aroma, silky tannins, fruity and fresh, rich and complex on the palate, rich in black berries and spices in oak barrels The taste adds a charming roasted aroma and has excellent ageing potential. In addition, the winery also produces a second-brand wine - Virginie de Valandraud, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, France, and a third-brand wine - Château Valenzo No. 3 Dry red wines (3 de Valandraud, Saint-Emilion, France) and 2 very good white wines.
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