2021 | Samuel Billaud | Montee de Tonnerre

The bouquet has barely started singing here, but the wine soars on the palate with that sunny generosity of fruit before the crunch of the kimmeridgian fossils.

Producer Information

Chablis has seen a real renaissance the last few years, with critics such as Neal Martin stating, Chablis “articulates terroir with greater transparency than any other wine region”. He goes on to say “… in talented hands Chablis can satisfy both the senses and the intellect…the finest Chablis wines are uncompromising, challenging and cerebral.” In the same article Neal Martin identifies Samuel Billaud as one of the best in the business, including him amongst a handle of producers that are making Chablis on almost the same level as Raveneau and Dauvissat. The quality of Samuel’s winemaking cannot be overstated and he is being rewarded with seriously positive press. We probed Samuel to find out what are the secrets behind his stunning set of Chablis wines. Although Samuel’s domaine is fairly new, the first vintage being 2009, Samuel is one of the most experienced producers in Chablis having made wine in the region since the 1985 vintage. He produced over 20 vintages working for his family’s historic domaine - Domaine Billaud Simon, initially under the tutorage of his grandfather until his death in 1990. From 1991 he went on to produce the wines at the domaine on his own. Following the death of his grandfather, Samuel started to fall out with his uncle whom he shared the domaine’s ownership with and the two eventually separated. A few years ago, Domaine Billaud Simon was finally sold to the large Burgundian negociant – Faiverley. In the terms of sale Samuel was allowed to pick his favoured plots of vineyards for his own domaine. This enabled him to secure some of the finest vineyards in Chablis – historic sites that have always been under the ownership of the original Chablis families of Billaud Simon, Raveneau, Dauvissat, Droin etc. Having such knowledge of the vineyards and now access to some of the top historic plots these have to be central factors behind the upswing in quality of the wines now being produced at the domaine. Initially prior to the sale Samuel was buying in all the grapes under his label. Whilst we were already familiar with Samuel’s top Premier Cru and Grand Cru vineyards, one of the true revelations we discovered when tasting the wines on this visit was that his Petit Chablis is coming from a small site sitting on Kimmeridgian and Portlandian soils directly above the Les Clos Grand Cru vineyard, where only Billaud and Raveneau share the vines. This is a wine that is closer to a Premier Cru than a Petit Chablis quality standard, with amazing mineral structure and body. The land only becoming certified on this site some 20 years ago.

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