2023 Valandraud

With roughly 2,800 cases produced, the 2023 Château Valandraud is based on 85% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, and 8% Cabernet Sauvignon and was aged 20 months in 100% new French oak. This beautiful, layered, seamless effort from Thunevin can easily be put up with the crème de la crème of the vintage and it offers classic cassis, liquid violets, graphite, and chocolate-driven aromatics. Concentrated and full-bodied on the palate, it has a pure, layered mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. It needs air to show at its best and is a gorgeous effort that will gain volume over the coming 3-5 years and keep for 25-30 years. Drink 2028-2053.

The 2023 Valandraud is such an elegant wine. Soft, supple contours envelop a core of dark red/purplish fruit, lavender, spice, new leather and licorice. Readers will find an incredibly finessed Valandraud—a wine that is more finesse than power. I can’t wait to see how it ages.

The 2023 Valandraud is matured entirely in new oak with no sulfites added during the aging, using CO2 to protect the wine instead. This has a little more refinement on the nose than the Virginie de Valandraud, impressive precision and it deftly soaks up the new oak compared to its peers (as it often does). The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins, the 8% Cabernet Sauvignon imparting marine-like notes toward the finish. Good backbone, just a bit heady in the final stretches.