Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux | 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon | 99 JD - 97 LPB - 96 WA

The "bad boy" of Saint-Émilion is all grown up - and crafting some of the most thrilling wines in Bordeaux. The 2019 Valandraud is a hedonistic masterpiece, a wine that explodes from the glass with a kaleidoscope of baked black cherries, boysenberry preserves, dark chocolate, and exotic five-spice. It’s rich, dramatic, and impossibly lush on the palate, with a core of decadent fruit wrapped in polished, mouth-coating tannins.

The critics are utterly seduced: Jeb Dunnuck (99pts) calls it a "tour de force," Lisa Perrotti-Brown (97pts) praises its "decadent, mouth-coating" fruit, and William Kelley (96pts) highlights its "seamless and integrated" power. While it has the structure to age for two decades, this is a modern Bordeaux with so much ripe, succulent fruit that it’s dangerously approachable even now. Hard to resist.