Producers: Château de Valandraud

Once referred to by Robert Parker as "Bad Boy" and "Black Sheep", the wines of Jean-Luc Thunevin are now among the figureheads of Bordeaux. His success story began in 1989 as a great lateral thinker of Bordeaux, when Jean-Luc Thunevin, together with his wife Murielle Andraud, acquired a miniature parcel in the Val de Fongaban in Saint-Emilion. Until then, Thunevin worked as a DJ and wine merchant. The common dream of a vineyard in Bordeaux the couple fulfilled themselves with borrowed money. In the years before, Jean-Luc Thunevin and Murielle Andraud gained experience in winemaking, while they produced their first wines in their own kitchen in the heart of the city of Saint-Emilion. At the time, the plot in Bordeaux only covered 0.6 hectares. Jean-Luc Thunevin and his wife planted the vineyard with quality vines and gave it the name «Château Valandraud». The name of the winery is composed of the site of the estate, Val de Fongaban, and the name of Thunevin's wife, Andraud. In 1991, Jean-Luc Thunevin vinified his first wine at the Château Valandraud winery, and just a year later, his first red wine, "Valandraud", made his big breakthrough. The garage wine of Bordeaux becomes within a helariously short time a cult wine. In the years that followed, Château Valandraud also transformed itself into a magnificent vineyard, which today attracts attention and is one of the most successful wineries in Bordeaux.