Vivid and focused with brightness and clarity of fruit. Dried flowers, too. Full-bodied with layers of fine, soft tannins that spread across the palate and show class and refinement. It goes on for minutes. A beautiful bottle. Try after 2027, but so attractive already.

Couleur sombre, intense et belle. Nez intense, au fruité mûr et légèrement truffé. Minutieux en entrée de bouche, particulièrement savoureux au milieu, le vin fond au palais, juteux, avec un caractère parfumé inédit et de la douceur dans le déroulé. C'est surtout la puissance du parfum un brin solaire, un brin exotique (fond d'écorce d'orange) qui captive mon attention. Finale longue et dense, à la tannicité bien enveloppée.

Right from the first nose you get deep, richly textured plum fruit, with nuances of chocolate shavings and baked earth. Pencil lead through the mid palate combines the restrained tug of limestone with the confidence of a wine that knows how to make an impression. This is great stuff, really well controlled, carefully but still exuberantly extracted, and one that you would be extremely happy to own. This is the last year in the old winery, with the fancy new one built into the St Emilion hillside, opening as of 2020.

Rich and dramatic, the 2019 Valandraud bursts with aromas of berry fruit, plums and licorice, framed by a lavish but far from exaggerated application of creamy new oak. Full-bodied, fleshy and sensual, it's broad and enveloping, its lavish core of fruit framed by ripe, polished tannins and succulent balancing acids. Seamless and integrated despite its ripe, hedonistic style, this has turned out beautifully and has the balance to perform well for at least two decades, even if there's no youthful asperity to preclude near-term enjoyment.

Le pur style Valandraud s'exprime dans ce millésime au parfait équilibre, entre le velours chatoyant de la matière et la fraîcheur du fruit caractéristique de 2019. Le nez, entre la cerise juteuse et la feuille de tabac, évolue en permanence à l'aération. Le milieu de bouche pulpeux et lisse livre en finale le souffle de fraîcheur qui anoblit le vin.

Richly textured, featuring cashmere-like waves of dark plum, cassis and blackberry compote flavors that glide through and are laced with light violet, anise and black tea notes. The rumble of tannins can be heard on the finish, but for the vintage, this is extremely suave in the end. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best from 2025 through 2040.

Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Feiner Edelholztouch, schwarze Kirschen, ein Hauch von Lakritze, frische Orangenzesten. Saftig, schwarze Beeren, frisch und voll Energie, eingebndene Tannine, mineralisch-salzig im Abgang, bleibt gut haften, sicheres Entwicklungspotenzial.