“Garage wine” entered Bordeaux usage in the early 1990s to describe micro-scale, quality-driven cuvées made with limited equipment rather than in expansive chai.
The idea was simple: work tiny parcels obsessively, harvest for optimum ripeness, sort lot by lot, and vinify with uncompromising precision. The term became closely linked to Saint-Émilion, where a handful of producers challenged orthodox practice and demonstrated that scale was not a prerequisite for excellence.
Jean-Luc Thunevin
No name is more associated with this culture than Jean-Luc Thunevin. Before wine, Thunevin worked as a DJ and a merchant; in 1991 he and his wife, Murielle Andraud, produced the first vintage of Château Valandraud from 0.6 hectares. The estate’s rise was grounded in vineyard detail—green harvesting, strict selection—and in a readiness to experiment in both viticulture and cellar. What began as a small, improvised operation in back-street conditions became a reference point for the movement and a case study in how attention to micro-terroirs could alter expectations in Bordeaux.
The term “garage wine” itself is often credited, in contemporary accounts, to Florence Cathiard of Château Smith Haut Lafitte, who encountered Thunevin’s makeshift set-up in the early years and used the description in conversation. Whatever its precise origin, the label stuck because it captured a recognisable method: low volumes, high touch, and a willingness to break with convention where the rulebook allowed.
Château Valandraud
Valandraud’s trajectory since those formative vintages is part of the story. The château entered the Saint-Émilion classification in 2006, was promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classé (B) in 2012, and retained that status in the 2022 revision. The classification matters because it codifies typicity and signals market confidence, yet Valandraud’s working style has remained close to its roots: parcel precision, small-lot vinification, and strict blending choices aimed at a polished, Merlot-led grand vin.
Alongside the main wine, Thunevin created a clear lane for experimentation. The most emblematic episode came in 2000. Expecting rain, parts of the vineyard were protected with tarpaulins. The measure fell outside the appellation rules; wine from those sections could not be sold under the AOC and was declassified to table wine. Thunevin bottled it as “L’Interdit de Valandraud”—literally, “the forbidden”. The name signalled both the regulatory boundary and the intent: to bottle innovation transparently, without importing it into the classified range.
“L’Interdit” has since functioned as a label for wines that sit beyond the narrowest AOC parameters. The principle is consistent. If a lot, a technique, or a variety does not conform to the rules, it can still be made—documented, bottled, released—but it must do so outside the appellation framework. This preserves the identity of the grand vin while allowing the team to test ideas and show results to the market. In that sense, “L’Interdit” is not a stylistic trademark so much as a governance tool.
The 2022 “Pinot Noir L’Interdit by Valandraud” fits precisely into this architecture. Pinot Noir is not authorised in the Saint-Émilion AOC; a Pinot bottling must therefore be released as Vin de France or a comparable non-appellation category. The choice of grape is significant symbolically rather than technically. On the Right Bank, Merlot and Cabernet Franc dominate; Valandraud’s grand vin typically reflects that formula. A discrete Pinot cuvée allows Thunevin to explore a different register—lighter frame, different tannin profile, red-fruited spectrum—without blurring the château’s core identity or the promises embedded in the classification.
This dual-track model also answers market realities. Bordeaux is a globalised arena with consumers who are receptive to small, off-grid releases, provided the labelling is clear. “L’Interdit” tells buyers exactly what they are getting: a Valandraud project outside AOC rules. The grand vin remains the standard-bearer, made to the specifications and expectations of Saint-Émilion. The experimental line runs in parallel, documented and separate. For importers and sommeliers, the distinction is practical; for collectors, it explains why such bottles are limited and why they do not seek to redefine the estate’s principal wine.
“L’Interdit” Pinot Noir
As for tasting, EU Today recently assessed the Pinot Noir L’Interdit 2022 at Thunevin Girondins, 7 rue des Girondins, Saint-Émilion—a public-facing shop that hosts tastings and ships internationally. The observation is relevant only to confirm that the cuvée is being shown on its own terms, in line with the transparent approach that has framed “L’Interdit” since 2000.
Three decades on from its improvised beginnings, Château Valandraud sits comfortably within the Saint-Émilion hierarchy while retaining the independent streak that defined the garage wine era. That balance—classification for the grand vin, experimentation ring-fenced under “L’Interdit”—explains the estate’s continuing interest to both traditional Bordeaux drinkers and those following the evolution of style and method. The 2022 Pinot Noir “L’Interdit” is the latest illustration: a legally distinct, carefully presented project that broadens the conversation without altering the message in the bottle that bears the Château Valandraud name.
