Jean-Luc Thunvin started out very small with his wife Murielle on a tiny plot (0.6 ha) on the ridge of St. Emilion. He made the wine in his garage in St. Emilion. One day after work, in the autumn, he was walking through St. Emilion covered in wine when Robert Parker, who was out with the big names from Château Angélus, Figeac and Cheval Blanc, saw him. Parker wanted to know who he was and invited him to dinner with the others. He was very nervous because he couldn't speak any English. This is how Robert Parker got to know not only Jean-Luc but also his Château Valandraud. He was very enthusiastic about this wine and made it world famous as a garage wine.
Jean-Luc is a lateral thinker. He realized early on that the grapes had to be allowed to ripen so that the wine had more sugar and therefore more alcohol, and became stronger and more aromatic. Robert Parker, who had an American palate, liked that. His influence was enormous in Bordeaux. His judgment was worth its weight in gold, or it could be devastating. In Bordeaux, up until the 1990s, the wine was harvested at around 12.8% alcohol. The grapes were not allowed to ripen. This gave the wine more elegance but also less strength. That then changed slowly and steadily. Today, the alcohol levels are regularly over 14%.
