2020 Valandraud
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Tasting notes
Valandraud has a complex nose this year: dark, peppery spice mingles with sweeter caramel tones, lots of smoky toast and lifted, floral aromas. The palate continues in a similar vein, with more pepper, juicy plum fruit, damson and blueberry cassis. The tannins are silky soft at first, but firm up on the finish, providing good structure. This is hugely concentrated but not overblown – there is more delicacy here than is typical, while also remaining flamboyant. The texture is excellent, with detailed, structured tannins that are beautifully ripe.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Tasted blind. Deep crimson. Dark and oaky – lots of 70% dark chocolate. Pretty oaky, covering all else. The tannins are big and dense but there’s enough fresh fruit to fill it out for the long term. (JH)
The 2020 Valandraud has a sophisticated bouquet with vibrant blackberry, blueberry and wild strawberry scents laced with minerals and seamlessly integrated oak. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, fresh, tensile and focused, leading to a detailed and persistent finish. This should mature beautifully in bottle—a quite delicious Saint-Émilion from Jean-Luc Thunevin. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
If the 2019 vintage at this address was something of a guilty pleasure, the 2020 Valandraud is simply guilty as charged. Exhibiting aromas of jammy black fruits mingled with toasted coconut, spices and caricatural slatherings of new oak, it's full-bodied, rich and chewy, with generously extracted tannins that clamp down on the finish. All that oak and extract impedes access to the wine's generous fruit, rendering it less demonstrative and gourmand than its 2019 counterpart, and that's a pity, as recent vintages of Valandraud have been among the more successful of the few remaining hold-out "garagiste" wines of the Right Bank.
About the producer
One of the first garage wines, Ch. Valandraud was created by Jean-Luc Thunevin – Saint-Emilion’s “bad boy”. Today the style of the wine is much more restrained, and officially classified as a Premier Grand Cru Classé B estate.