100-Pt Valandraud: "Just Awesome"
2022 Chateau Valandraud Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
<Pre-arrival, arriving July 2026> In 1991, a former bank clerk with no vineyard and no pedigree made a hundred cases of wine in a garage in Saint-Émilion. The Bordeaux establishment sneered and coined a term to put him in his place: "garage wine." Jean-Luc Thunevin wore it like a badge. By 1995, Robert Parker scored his tiny Château Valandraud higher than Pétrus; prices blew past the First Growths; and the same gatekeepers who mocked him eventually inducted Valandraud into Saint-Émilion's…
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Original garage wine
Lowest US price
Jeb Dunnuck: 100
Retail
$256.00
Best Online
$155.00
$150.00
Our Price
$106 off
Free shipping on orders over $85
Tasting notes
Aroma
Cassis and blueberry, candied violet, and licorice, with mocha, espresso, and sweet spice rolling off the new oak.
Palate
Full-bodied, deep, and massive, with ripe tannins and bright acidity carrying huge richness that somehow feels weightless.
Red Wine Body Profile
Light
Bold
Body Profile
Structured
79/100 Intensity
Light
Bold
79.0/100
Feather-light
Delicate
Lifted
Structured
Deep
Grapes
85% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon
ABV
14.0%
Serving
55–60°F
Window
2025–2066
In Detail
A 100-point 2022 Saint-Émilion Premier Grand Cru.
<Pre-arrival, arriving July 2026>
In 1991, a former bank clerk with no vineyard and no pedigree made a hundred cases of wine in a garage in Saint-Émilion. The Bordeaux establishment sneered and coined a term to put him in his place: "garage wine." Jean-Luc Thunevin wore it like a badge. By 1995, Robert Parker scored his tiny Château Valandraud higher than Pétrus; prices blew past the First Growths; and the same gatekeepers who mocked him eventually inducted Valandraud into Saint-Émilion's elite as a Premier Grand Cru Classé.
The 2022 is Thunevin's greatest to date. Jeb Dunnuck scored it a perfect 100, ranking it with the "otherworldly" 2010 and 2020, while Suckling, Galloni, the Wine Advocate, and Jane Anson piled on with a wall of mid-to-high-90s. From a vintage critics are calling a new benchmark for Bordeaux, it's 85% Merlot and two years in new oak — full-bodied, deep, and massive, yet so light on its feet it carries all that richness with no weight at all.
Across 42 U.S. retailers, some charging up to $256, ours is the lowest in the country at $150 — a perfect-scoring Premier Grand Cru for far less than the top shops charge. The garage rebel beat the First Growths on quality decades ago. Now we beat them on price, too.
