Château Valandraud: Tasting & Drinking
Among the upper echelons of St Emilion, Château Valandraud is one of the estates I have come to late. Although I was certainly taking a keen interest in Bordeaux when Jean-Luc was busy making his first vintage in 1991, I certainly wasn’t in a position to be buying and knocking back the wine. And as the prices quickly escalate during the 1990s, taking the wines well beyond my reach, my unfamiliarity with the estate persisted for many years.
Nevertheless, although I have to declare limited experience with the wines, something I hope to put right over the coming years, even with such infrequent and limited exposure it is clear that there is something special to be found at Valandraud. Although today we can perhaps point at the estate’s terroir, this has not been constant throughout the wine’s story, wines which have maintained their popularity throughout the evolution of the property into what we see today. The success here is surely down to the dedicated and meticulous work of Jean-Luc, Murielle and their team rather than any god-given peculiarity of their soils; the fact that, in a difficult vintage such as 2012, the grand vin remains so ripe, rich and vibrant can not simply be down to the presence of a little limestone and clay. It reflects the long process of tending the vineyards, by hand, vine by vine, throughout the growing season, and of restricting yields of course.
