★

4.46/5

Box repackaged by Millesima

Château Valandraud 2006

Name: Château Valandraud 2006
Brand: Château Valandraud
SKU: 1506/06
Price: 195 EUR
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.46 (140 reviews)

Grand cru -

Bordeaux

Saint-Emilion

- Red - See details

Parker | 91

J. Robinson | 15

Wine Spectator | 92

R. Gabriel | 18

J. Suckling | 92

€195.00 Incl. VAT

(

€195.00 / Unit

)

Packaging : Bottle (75cl)

1 x 75CL

€195.00

In-Stock

ALL VINTAGES OF THIS WINE

All Château Valandraud wines

Marks and reviews

/100

Robert Parker

Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Notes of graphite, licorice, espresso roast, chocolate, and black currant liqueur jump from the glass of this dense purple-colored wine. Full-bodied, with a layered texture, superb purity, and depth, this is always an over-achieving estate, and obviously the flagship wine of Jean-Luc Thunevin and his partner Murielle. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2026.

/100

Wine Spectator

Shows loads of coffee and berry on the nose. Full-bodied, with soft, clean tannins. Round and wonderfully textured. Very clean and well-made. Valandraud is modern and refined. Best after 2013. 1,000 cases made.

/100

James Suckling

Chewy and dusty with lots of cocoa character and milk chocolate with dark fruits. Full and velvety. Lots of fruit but reserved. Better in 2014.

/20

Jancis Robinson

Tasted blind. Still very dark crimson. Some decay on the nose? Then very rich and ripe, slightly tarry on the palate with some liquorice notes. Very dry finish. Very demanding of the drinker. Over-extracted. (JR)

/100

Jeff Leve

Leve Jeff

With an hour of air, the wine started to soften and display aromas of licorice, espresso, black cherry, boysenberry and truffle. There is a polish to the fruit coupled with a sense of purity that I liked, but the wine is on the structured, beefy side of the style range, which is typical of many 2006 Bordeaux wines. More time will add complexity and softness to the wine.

/100

Jeb Dunnuck

I was shocked how good the 2006 Château Valandraud was, and it's just drinking spectacularly well today. Chocolaty dark fruits, graphite, hints of truffle, and Asian spices all emerge from this full-bodied, deep, concentrated, yet incredibly elegant Saint-Emilion. I love its balance, it has polished tannins, and one great finish. I don't see it getting any better, but it unquestionably has another 8-10 years of longevity, and probably a gradual decline after that.

/20

Weinwisser

Deep purple-ruby. Expressive bouquet: at first a nutty toasted note reminiscent of freshly baked dark rye bread, then blackcurrant, blackberries and Darjeeling tea; full-bodied yet very noble. Fine, elegant palate, ripe tannins, nicely defined black-fruit notes, tea nuances again, currants, plantain, and a long finish. For once, not a spectacular Valandraud, more about class; in terms of style it therefore comes closer to a great St-Emilion than many previous vintages.

/20

René Gabriel

07: Production volume; 12,000 bottles. 70% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, 2.5% Malbec, 2.5% Cabernet Sauvignon. 38 hl/ha. Deep purple-ruby. Open bouquet, starting with a nutty roasted note reminiscent of freshly baked dark bread, then cassis, blackberries, Darjeeling tea—full-bodied yet very noble at the same time. Fine, elegant palate, ripe tannins, beautifully accented black fruit notes, tea nuances again, currants, ribwort plantain, long finish. For once, not a spectacular Valandraud, but rather a wine that aims for class and therefore, in terms of taste, comes closer to a great St. Emilion than in many previous years. (18/20). 13: Very dark wine-red with almost black highlights. Warm, expressive bouquet, floral underneath, then spice, and only on the second nose does the ample Merlot come through. On the palate, ample texture, malty, lots of mocha, prunes, very meaty, the finish tastes like Napa. A remarkable wine that far exceeds the vintage’s expectations. Still easy to find on the market and more than worth its price. (18/20). 16: Medium wine-red, showing a very fine orange rim at the edge. Spicy bouquet—bay leaf, cloves, smoke—tending toward black-berried notes at the start. On the second pass, tones of dark chocolate. On the palate, lots of charm; the tannins are pleasantly rounded and fully integrated, ultra-fine grained in flow, aromatic finish. It already has class!

/20

André Kunz

Concentrated, closed bouquet with black cherries, currants, cedar and mocha. Concentrated, powerful palate with plenty of fine tannins, dark aromatics, muscular structure, long, dense finish. Still has room to improve. 18/20 2020 - 2038

/20

Bettane+Desseauve

Tasted from bottle, the wine is beginning to reveal the full breadth of its potential: creamy richness, noble depth, length and precision.

/100

Jean-Marc Quarin

Logo on the cork: CB Dark, intense color with slight development. Discreet, fruity nose. Soft, fruity, smooth palate with flavor in the mid-palate and a finish that lingers on oak. Normal length. This excess oak undermines the overall balance.

/100

Wine Enthusiast

R.V.

91—93 Barrel sample. The wine made by Jean-Luc Thunevin, the original garage wine. Now a proper estate, with a chateau, it still follows the big, fruity model, but without the extraction of the past. Very fruity, it is also very approachable.

Description

Characteristics and tasting advice for Château Valandraud 2006

Tasting

Color

Deep garnet verging on black, this wine displays remarkable intensity and a slight natural haze, a sign that it has not been filtered.

Nose

The aromatic bouquet expresses itself with striking intensity, unveiling aromas of very ripe dark fruit, notably blackcurrant and black cherry. These fruity notes are delicately accompanied by spicy, oaky nuances of vanilla, tobacco and coffee. With aeration, the nose reveals touches of white chocolate, toasted cocoa nibs, and even subtle hints of camphor.

Palate

On the palate, the wine unfolds with a voluptuous, fleshy texture. The attack is immediately generous, coating the palate with concentrated flavors of stewed, compoted dark fruits, complemented by spicy impressions that evolve into roasted suggestions. The tannins, while present and structuring, are expressed with finesse and elegance. The wine’s distinctive minerality remains evident throughout the tasting, bringing a perceptible freshness and sensory clarity. The finish is remarkably persistent, with fruity, spicy and mineral impressions gradually fading away.

Food and wine pairings

This Château Valandraud 2006 pairs perfectly with roast leg of lamb with artichokes. It also complements roasted or braised red meats with elegance, particularly those served with rich mushroom sauces. Dark-fleshed game, such as wild boar stew, makes an exceptional match. Aged soft-ripened cheeses, like truffled Brie, also create a lovely harmony with this wine.

Serving and cellaring

This Château Valandraud 2006 has cellaring potential for another ten to twenty years, i.e. until around 2036. With additional time in bottle, the wine will gain in complexity and harmony.

A rich, modern Saint-Émilion born of the garagiste movement

The estate

Created in 1991 by Jean-Luc Thunevin and Murielle Andraud, Château Valandraud embodies the revolutionary movement of Bordeaux garage wines. Located in Saint-Émilion, the estate now covers around 9 to 11 hectares spread between the Fongaban valley and the Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse plateau. A pioneer of an iconoclastic approach, Jean-Luc Thunevin—dubbed the “Bad Boy of Bordeaux” by Robert Parker—turned a tiny 0.6-hectare plot into a Premier Grand Cru Classé. In 2015, Christophe and Marie Lefévère took a stake in the estate, bringing fresh momentum. The château is renowned for its rich, silky, modern wines, made with an obsessive attention to detail and an uncompromising commitment to quality.

The vineyard

The Château Valandraud vineyard extends across the communes of Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse and Saint-Sulpice-de-Faleyrens, in the heart of the Saint-Émilion appellation. The soils show remarkable diversity, with around 70 to 90% clay-limestone terroirs characterized by their richness in clay and fine limestone. The remainder of the vineyard includes sections of siliceous gravel and sand. The vines, with an average age of 30 years, benefit from a mild oceanic climate conducive to optimal ripening. In 2017, the estate earned the Haute Valeur Environnementale certification, reflecting its commitment to environmentally responsible practices. Harvesting is carried out by hand, with rigorous grape selection.

The vintage

The 2006 vintage in Bordeaux proved to be a year of major qualitative success, particularly for Right Bank wines. Weather conditions combined a warm summer with a relatively dry autumn, creating circumstances that favored sugar concentration and optimal ripeness levels for red grape varieties. This balanced maturity enabled producers to achieve a complex expression combining power and finesse.

Winemaking and aging

After rigorous density sorting, the grapes for Château Valandraud 2006 are destemmed and lightly crushed. Alcoholic fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled vats, with an extended maceration of around three weeks. Manual punch-downs and pump-overs are carried out during this period. At the end of alcoholic fermentation, the entire harvest is transferred to new oak barrels for malolactic fermentation. Aging continues in new barrels for 18 to 30 months depending on the vintage. The wine undergoes neither fining nor filtration before bottling, thus preserving the full breadth of its natural complexity.

Grape varieties

Merlot and Cabernet Franc make up the typical blend of this Château Valandraud 2006, reflecting the traditional Right Bank Bordeaux balance. Merlot brings roundness, suppleness and generous fruit, while Cabernet Franc lends tannic elegance, structured finesse and mineral complexity.

From the same producer