1997 Valandraud

There are three kinds of right-bank Bordeaux in 1998, opines Jean-Luc Thunevin, who has created one of the true cult wines of Bordeaux in just a few short years. First, there are the wines that are a little too ripe, too moux. Then there are the wines that were too heavily extracted, wines that thus are burdened with hard tannins. And then there are the successes of the vintage, including an unusually high number of Pomerols. Thunevin 1998 Valandraud is definitely in the third group. The yield was just 30 hectoliters per hectare in '98, says Thunevin, adding that polyphenol levels were normal, and that tannins were thoroughly ripe. The merlot came in with potential alcohol in the 13% to 13.5% range, he noted, "and that was after we lost a full degree due to the rain." Thunevin recently purchased another six hectares of old vines not far from Pavie; this is the source for his new Clos Badon Thunevin, but some of the best fruit from this plot now goes into Valandraud. There will be about 1,000 cases of 1998 Valandraud, compared to fewer than 400 of the '97.

Jean-Luc Thunevin cult wine continues to fetch outrageous prices in the resale market, but collectors and speculators are at least getting an amazingly concentrated, spare-no-expense wine that leaves far too many right-bank wines from more favored soils in its dust. Thunevin declared just 36 hectoliters per hectare in '97, then carried out a saignee, declassified 11 barrels from his Saint Sulpice holding on sandy soil, and similarly eliminated the press wine. The result will be only about 200 cases of one of the few outstanding right-bank wines made in '97, scarcity sure to make rabid collectors foam at the mouth.