Château Valandraud, Grand Cru Classé, St Émilion, 2025
Valandraud is no shrinking violet, it's unapologetically bold and modern, full of eucalyptus, dark chocolates and Asian spices. Quite noire, super-ripe, lavish blackcurrant and liqueur fruit, cherry and mocha. There's lots of extract and toasty oak, but there is energy and purity. Big and burly but quite impressive.
critic reviews
The 2025 Valandraud was picked from September 12 to October 4 and matured in 90% new oak, the rest in wooden casks. It has an intense nose with black cherry, cassis and violet scents, more bold than the Virginie de Valandraud but perhaps slightly less delineated. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly grainy tannins, very well balanced with good depth of fruit, spicier than the Virginie towards the finish. Good grip, more than the Virginie, this will require three to five years in bottle, but it has great potential.
The 2025 Valandraud is breathtaking. Its the first vintage made by Jean-Luc Thunevin and Marie Lefévère together. It therefore represents a changing of the guard, now that Lefévère and her husband, Christophe, have taken full ownership of the property after many years holding a minority stake. Vibrant and explosive in the glass, the 2025 Valandraud offers an exotic mélange of dark blue/purplish fruit, lavender, spice and mocha. There's gorgeous precision here, much of that coming from more finesse in the tannins. The 2025 is utterly magnificent. Élevage is 90% new oak and 10% 15HL _foudres). Tasted two times.