A few information....
Here is the list of wines presented at Valandraud this week (from April 2 to 6, from 9 am to 6 pm) with most of the owners presenting their wines personally. You are, of course all invited! Monday, we expected around 200 visitors: brokers, négociants, owners, importers, supermarket buyers, journalists, wine critics, etc.
Jean-Luc Thunevin's properties
2006 Câteau Valandraud-Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Virginie de Valandraud-Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 de Valandraud - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Clos Badon-Thunevin - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Chateau Bel Air Ouÿ -Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Prieuré Lescours - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Blanc de Valandraud N°1 - Bordeaux blanc
2006 Blanc de Valandraud N°2 - Bordeaux blanc
2006 Château Bellevue de Tayac- Margaux
2006 L’Enclos du Beau Père - Pomerol
2006 Domaine des Sabines - Lalande de Pomerol
Co-ownerships with Jean Roger Calvet, Marie Raynaud, Murielle Andraud and Marylène Vauthier :
2006 Domaine Calvet-Thunevin « Les Dentelles » - Côtes du Roussillon Villages
2006 Domaine Calvet-Thunevin « Hugo »- Côtes du Roussillon Villages
2006 Domaine Calvet-Thunevin « Les Trois Marie » -Côtes du Roussillon Villages
2006 Domaine Calvet-Thunevin - Maury
Co-ownership with Clément Fayat:
2006 Domaine Fayat-Thunevin - Pomerol
2006 Domaine Fayat-Thunevin - Lalande de Pomerol
Wines selected and distributed exclusively by Ets. Thunevin
2006 Calvet-Thunevin et Cie « Constance » -Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes
2006 Château Franc Maillet- Cuvée Jean Baptiste - Pomerol
2006 Presidial Thunevin - Bordeaux
2006 Clos del Rey et Mas del Rey- Côtes du Roussillon
2006 Baby del Rey - Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes
2006 Château Compassant (en fermage) - Bordeaux
2006 Château Lafont Fourcat - Bordeaux rouge et blanc
Jean-Luc Thunevin consultant or manager
2006 Château Haut Mazeris - Canon Fronsac et Fronsac
2006 Château de Carles - Fronsac
2006 Haut-Carles - Fronsac
2006 Château Fleur Cardinale - Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé
2006 Château La Dominique - Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé
2006 Château Clément Pichon - Haut Médoc Cru Bourgeois
2006 Château Prieurs de La Commanderie - Pomerol
2006 Château La Commanderie de Mazeyres - Pomerol
2006 Marojallia - Margaux
2006 Clos Margalaine - Margaux
And the wines from our friends
2006 Château Croix de Labrie - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Château du Parc - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Busqueyron - Bordeaux rouge et blanc
2006 Château Veyry - Côtes de Castillon
2006 Clos Puy Arnaud (Valette) - Côtes de Castillon
2006 Vieux Château Gachet - Lalande de Pomerol
2006 Château La Sergue - Lalande de Pomerol
2006 Château Franc Maillet - Pomerol
2006 Château Le Gay - Pomerol
2006 Château La Croix Figeac - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Château les Gravières - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Lynsolence - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Côte de Baleau - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Clos de Sarpe - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Charles de Sarpe - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Gracia -Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Les Angelots de Gracia - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Villhardy - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Château les Grandes Murailles - Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé
2006 Clos Saint Martin - Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé
2006 La Mauriane - Puisseguin Saint Emilion
2006 Château Gachon - Montagne Saint Emilion
2006 Château de la Cour d’Argent - Bordeaux rouge
2006 Château Quinault - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Serilhan - Saint Estèphe
2006 Château Moutinot - Saint Estèphe
2006 Château Rollan de By - Médoc
2006 Château Haut Condissas - Médoc
2006 Château La Clare - Médoc
2006 Arche Lafaurie - Sauternes
2006 Château D’Arche - Sauternes
2006 Château Pape Clément - Graves
2006 Château Fombrauge - St Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Tour Carnet - Haut Médoc Grand Cru Classé
2006 Château Les Grands Chênes - Médoc Cru Bourgeois Supérieur
2006 Magrez Fombrauge - St Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Machorre - Bordeaux
2006 Villa Machorre - Bordeaux
2006 Château de Laussac - Côtes de Castillon
2006 Château Beau Soleil - Pomerol
2006 Château Sénéjac - Haut Médoc
2006 Château Clos Chaumont -1ères Côtes de Bordeaux
2006 Château Petit Gravet Ainé - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Clos Saint Julien - Saint Emilion Grand Cru
2006 Le Plus de La Fleur de Boüard - Lalande de Pomerol
2006 Château Branda - Puisseguin Saint Emilion
2006 Château Pas de l’Ane - Saint Emilion
2006 Château La Couspaude - Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé
2006 Château Messile-Aubert - Montagne Saint Emilion
2006 Château Jean de Gué - Lalande de Pomerol
2006 Château Rouget - Pomerol
2006 Le Grand A d’Arguti -Vin de Pays de Côtes Catalanes
2006 Domaine Chiroulet Grande Réserve - VDP de Gascogne
2006 Château Montus Alain Brumont - Madiran
2006 Château Bouscassé Alain Brumont - Madiran
2006 Domaine de la Serre - Côtes du Roussillon
2006 Domaine Terre Rousse - Côtes du Roussillon Villages
2006 Domaine L’Eternel - Côtes du Roussillon Villages
2006 Coume del Mas Schistes - Collioure
2006 Quadratur de la Coume del Mas - Collioure
2006 Quintessence de la Coume del Mas - Banyuls
2006 La Sélection de Brigitte Chevalier - Languedoc
2006 Clos des fées Vieilles Vignes - Côtes du Roussillon
2006 Clos des fées Les Sorcières - Côtes du Roussillon
2006 La petite Sibérie - Côtes du Roussillon
2006 Pingus - Espagne Ribera del Duero
2006 Tenuta di Trinoro - Italie
2006 Domaine Schlossgutdiel - Allemagne
Monday, April 2 in the morning: Vega Sicilia:
Pintia
Alion
Valbuena 5°
Unico
Other than that, for the fun, James Suckling posted on his blog the following story (via the Wine Spectator's site), 2 podcasts and an excellent April's fools day joke regarding us:
No Words Are Just For This Wine!
Posted: 04:38 AM ET, April 01, 2007
It’s been a long week tasting in Bordeaux. The tannins of the 2006s are very strong. Most are slightly austere due to the tannins being slightly unripe or over extracted but the best wines of the vintage have managed to maintain ripeness in their tannins giving them a silky texture and light sweetness of fruit on the end. I tasted the 2006 Haut-Bailly yesterday and it is a case in point. This chateau did very well in 2006.
One other wonderful wine I tasted yesterday was the unbelievable super cuvee of Jean-Luc Thunevin, the owner of Valandraud and the garagiste maximo. His new wine is called Le Jardin de Ma Piscine. It is a micro-cuvee of pure Cabernet Franc. And it blows away anything I have ever tasted....
The wine comes from four-year old vines that he has planed in his swimming pool in St. Emilion. He took soil from nearby Cheval Blanc and filled his pool. Apparently, Pierre Lurton of Cheval did not know this. Thunevin and his wife would go out after mid-night each night for about four months and fill the trunk of their Mercedes and transported the precious soil to their home. They have in my opinion replicated, even improved, the great terroir of Cheval.
Moreover, they have a completely controlled microclimate. I saw the vineyard, which is planted at a density of 20,000 vines. The yield is about one or two bunches per vine! It is definitely a jardin deluxe! It has heating as well as air conditioning and there is a clear awning to protect the vineyard during rainstorms. For example, last year’s rains during the harvest had no effect because the awing protected the young vines from the moisture and attracted what little sunlight there was as well.
The ultra-ripe grapes were then harvested by hand – and only the hands of Thunevin himself. He then sorted them in his famous laundry room, where he now conducts tastings for visitors during futures tastings in Bordeaux. And the whole berries were fermented in what look like giant martini shakers. “We hand shake, instead of pump over,” said Thunevin. “This gives us much softer extractions than normal macerations. And I want my wine completely hand made.”
The wine completed its malo in new French oak from Hermes, of course. And they have already been racked into another set of new oak barrels to assure the highest amount of fine wood contact in the world. How is the wine? It blew me away. It showed mind-boggling aromas of blackberries, raspberries, chocolate (Valrohna, of course!), caviar, Dom Perignon, Chanel, Ferrari…anything ultra-expensive and chic. I was so in love with it that I didn’t know whether to drink it or drive it….
Anyway, it is mostly likely 100 points. And Thunevin could tell I loved his new micro cuvee, Le Jardin de Ma Piscine. THIS MEANS YOU PROBABLY WON'T BE ABLE TO AFFORD IT. BUT I BELIEVE IN THE TOOTH FAIRY SO IT MIGHT BE REASONABLY PRICED. I asked Thunevin if is he was worried about the pricing of his wine because everyone else in Bordeaux was going to have to cut theirs big time to sell 2006 this year. I have heard that Berry Brothers of London are asking for a reduction of 70 percent, because their margins were too low last year on the 2005s! But I think that the Bordelais should simply give their wines away this year. They made enough last year…what the hell!
Thunevin answered with a big smile, “I have not decided on the price. But it will be hard to reduce my price to the 2004 level, or reduce it at all, considering this is the first year I have made this very special wine!”
I could only say to him in response: April Fools!
And on Mark Squires BB, this good note for Valandraud 1998:
1998 Valandraud - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand CruFull soft red color. Forward nose of ripe red fruit with nice green pepper and briar hints. Mmmn, rich round black and red fruit on the palate with sweet notes of chocolate. Delicious and hedonistic. This is clearly a different animal from the rest of the right bankers at this tasting and I can see the concern about style differences (this tastes as California as it does Bordeaux), but I thought it was great - my WOTN. Now whether it is worth the premium, hmmmmn... (95 pts.)
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