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This is a BHW Direct Import/Ex-Chateau item.This is a futures item that is expected to deliver in 2025. 

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Reviews

Tasted on multiple occasions, the 2022 Château Valandraud is based on 88% Merlot and the balance an even split of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. It has incredible purity in its cassis and darker, almost blue fruits as well as notes of candied violets, licorice, and spicy oak. Full-bodied, rich, and concentrated, it has perfect tannins, a great mid-palate, and flawless balance. It reminds me of hypothetical blend of the 2010 and 2009, with perhaps plenty of similarities to the 2020 as well. ~97-99 JD

This is very rich and flamboyant yet it remains bright and vivid with a lovely fine tannin structure running through the wine. Bright acidity with a pH of 3.55 gives this energy and focus. 88% merlot, 6% cabernet franc and 6% cabernet sauvignon. ~97-98 JS

The 2022 Valandraud is magnificent. Rich and sumptuous to the core, the 2022 offers up inky red/purplish fruit, blood orange, spice, mocha and espresso, with nearly seamless texture and fabulous balance. Bright acids and beams of tannin lend shape and energy. Jean-Luc Thunevin and Muriel Andraud crafted a wine that captures the textural opulence that first turned heads here, but with an added kick of energy that reflects a more contemporary approach and also the style of the year. There is absolutely no sign of the 100% new oak, always a good measure of balance. I imagine this full throttle Saint-Emilion will need a number of years to shed some of its considerable baby fat. The 2022 showed beautifully at Thunevin, but showed even better in a large comparative tasting. Yields were a very generous 50 hectoliters per hectare, very much on the high side here. Jean-Luc Thunevin adds that he may opt for slightly shorter elevage in barrel than the norm of around 18 months. ~96-98 AG-VM

The 2022 Valandraud was picked from 15 September to 5 October and matured in 100% new oak. It has a pure and very opulent bouquet with ravishing black cherries and creme de cassis scents, a touch of pressed violets and dates. The palate is medium-bodied and hides the 15.5% alcohol beneath its velvety texture. Plush red fruit, sweet and candied but with counterbalancing spiciness and structure on the finish. This is a Valandraud with a V12 engine. It will need several years in bottle. It manages to maintain balance and purity, thankfully not imposing or fatiguing unlike some others. Jean-Luc Thunevin has crafted an excellent Saint-Emilion here. ~95-97 NM-VM

Smells intensely perfumed and fragrant on the nose. Keeps much more of a linear, tense and focussed palate, with tangy fruit that has both sharp and crystalline aspects as well as toasted spice, liquorice and clove giving some savoury aspects. Appealing detail and precision, you can feel each of the fine tannins and the fruit has clarity as well as concentration. Intense, texture and structure are great and this has good persistence. Feels young of course and a bit compact but there's lots to like with layers of flavour and a long finish. Wears its 15.5% alcohol well with freshness and cool, minty, wet stone touches on the finish. A stallion! Harvest 15 September - 5 October. Ageing 18-24 months in 100% new oak. 3.55pH. ~96 Decanter