Wednesday 19 July 2017

A Legend from Chablis - Samuel Billaud

No sooner than we'd finished with the 2015 Burgundy En Primeur, than I got an invite to a 2016 vintage tasting for Samuel Billaud, who's wines I've been a fan of for a number of years.



For those who don't know, Samuel was originally the head winemaker at the family domain, Billaud-Simon. with Samuel at the helm, the domain quickly become one of the top producer in Chablis with an enviable reputation. A few years ago, Samuel decided to go out on his own purchasing fruit from friends in the region and under his own name. With the sale of Billaud-Simon in 2014 to Domaine Faveley, Samuel managed to gain back control of 1/6th of the domaine that was his and was able to use the fruit to expand his range and buy less from other farmers.

2016 has been another exceptionally trying vintage for Burgundy, rain, hail and frosts have decimated there crops with some farmers reportedly losing up to 70% of there crop, this has come on the back of several already small vintages. While yields have been small, the quality of the fruit has again been exception, helping to give the winemakers a good start. The wines are showing great poise and depth of flavour from the fruit that has then been balanced perfectly with the minerality and soft but bountiful acidity. These all helped to create an amazing glass of wine, that as you moved up through his range from the village Chablis to the 1er Cru then the Grand Cru showed a greater depth and complexity each time.

These wines I have to say were absolutely stunning, you just couldn't find a fault in any of them, and these were only the tank samples, bottling won't begin till August and will continue in waves till probably the end of the year. If your a fan of Chablis then these are ones you definitively do not want to miss out on, view our offer here!

1 comment:

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