Jean-Luc and Murielle Thunevin
Etablissements Thunevin
Jean-Luc Thunevin became a “star” of the wine world within less than a decade thanks to his very famous ‘garage wine’ Chateau Valandraud.
It might be a winetasting of Le Pin, a Pomerol made from a tiny vineyard that gave rise to his desire to make an exceptional wine too. Thanks to his passion for wine, his determination and his desperate eagerness, he could make his wish become real from the first vintage, in 1991, of his Chateau Valandraud.
This vintage notes the beginning of a wonderful adventure and a flashing success.
He inspired many winemakers and initiated numerous other ‘garage wines’. All these micro-cuvées realized from low yields produce concentrated wines.
Murielle, his wife, plays an important role in the success of this imposing wine. Indeed she brings the most detailed care to the vines: specific pruning adapted to each vine, deleafing to aerate the grape, green harvest to cut away the excess bunches and limit them to six for each vine-plant.
On his side, Jean-Luc Thunevin decides the harvest date once the grapes have reached the optimal maturity. For the winemaking, he adopted the Burgundy’s techniques of punching of the cap in the fermenting vat (pigeage) and stirring of the lies in the oak barrel in order to get the maximum extraction for his wines. He does no fining, no filtration, but racking barrel to barrel every three months.
Always trying to reach excellence, his work methods are extreme to produce stupendous wines: dark, ripe and opulent.
During those years of strenuous work, Jean-Luc Thunevin has been developing a know-how and proficiency that he shares with many other properties like Chateau Fleur Cardinale (Saint-Emilion Grand Cru), Château Haut-Mazeris (Fronsac et Canon Fronsac), Chateau Andréas (Saint-Emilion Grand Cru), Chateau Balestard (Appellation Bordeaux), Marojallia (Appellation Margaux) to quote only few of them. Furthermore, Jean-Luc Thunevin bought Château Bellevue de Tayac, Margaux.
Click here to visit Jean-Luc Thunevin’s Blog.
