2021 Valandraud Blanc
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Tasting notes
The 2021 Château Valandraud Blanc is brilliant stuff and offers a gorgeous perfume of honeyed limes, mint, spicy herbs, and just a kiss of background oak. With medium-bodied richness, a focused, chiseled texture, and a gorgeous finish, it does everything right. It has bright acidity and rock-solid concentration and will benefit from a year or three in the cellar and have a decade or more of longevity.
Critic scores
Average Score
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2021 Valandraud Blanc has a well-defined bouquet with yellow plum, kaki fruit and light crushed stone aromas, touches of smoke in the background. The palate is fresh and vibrant with a fine bead of acidity and a hint of sour lemon. Grapefruit and pineapple notes grace the satisfying finish. Excellent.
The 2021 Valandraud Blanc is rich, deep and super-expressive. There is a level of intensity here that is beguiling. Lemon confit, marzipan, white flowers, crushed rocks and slate abound. All the Blanc needs is time—a recent bottle of the 2017 was outstanding. Light tropical notes and white flowers linger on the resonant close.
The Grand Vin 2021 Château Valandraud Blanc is mostly Sauvignon Gris but includes 30% Sauvignon Blanc and a splash of Semillon. Crushed stone, pineapple, and bright citrus give way to a medium-bodied, concentrated, incredibly pure, precise white displaying everything that makes this vintage so promising for the whites. As with all the whites here, it has a low pH, racy acidity, yet terrific mid-palate depth, beautiful balance, and a gorgeous finish. This will stand up to the best whites in the vintage.
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.