2019 Chablis, Les Grands Terroirs, Samuel Billaud, Burgundy

Samuel Billaud

The brilliantly talented Samuel Billaud was finding family politics hard going, so he has now founded his own wine label in Chablis separate from Domaine Billaud-Simon.

As far as we are concerned, the talent lies in the person and not the history, so we are delighted to have taken a small position with Samuel’s own wines. He does not own the vineyards but he does manage them, as well as crushing the grapes and vinifying the wines. We can certainly recognise his style in these offerings.

Chablis

One of the most famous wine names in the world, Chablis has suffered from numerous imitators. Fifty years ago there were just 400ha of vineyards in Chablis, but today there are 4,900ha. Both the generic and Premier Cru vineyards have doubled since the early 1970s, and now include areas of Portlandian as well as traditional Kimmeridgian clay. 

Being further north than the rest of Burgundy, and on a different type of limestone (the aforementioned Kimmeridgian, with some Portlandian), the wines are subtly different in style – a touch more austere with a beautiful fresh minerality that makes them so suited to seafood. Purists believe that only the Kimmeridgian soils, with their traces of marine fossils, should be used.

The outlying Portlandian vineyards are designated as Petit Chablis, although the vast majority of production is classified as Chablis, without any vineyard name. Forty vineyards are classified as Premier Cru, however several of these are grouped together to make 11 more commonly-used Premier Cru designations. The seven Grands Crus are clustered together in a group that overlooks the town of Chablis and the River Serein.

• 622 hectares of Petit Chablis.
• 3,780 hectares of Chablis and Chablis premier cru vineyards (40 in all).
  The finest vineyards include: Fourchaumes, Montmains, Mont de Milieu, Montée de Tonnerre, Vaillons, Vaucoupin.
• 103 hectares of Grand Cru vineyards (seven in all). Blanchots, Bougros, Les Clos, Grenouilles, Preuses, Valmur, Vaudésir.
• Recommended Producers:  Bessin, Billaud Simon, Dauvissat, Defaix, Droin, Fèvre, Picq, Séguinot-Bordet

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is the "Big Daddy" of white wine grapes and one of the most widely planted in the world. It is suited to a wide variety of soils, though it excels in soils with a high limestone content as found in Champagne, Chablis, and the Côte D`Or.

Burgundy is Chardonnay's spiritual home and the best White Burgundies are dry, rich, honeyed wines with marvellous poise, elegance and balance. They are unquestionably the finest dry white wines in the world. Chardonnay plays a crucial role in the Champagne blend, providing structure and finesse, and is the sole grape in Blanc de Blancs.

It is quantitatively important in California and Australia, is widely planted in Chile and South Africa, and is the second most widely planted grape in New Zealand. In warm climates Chardonnay has a tendency to develop very high sugar levels during the final stages of ripening and this can occur at the expense of acidity. Late picking is a common problem and can result in blowsy and flabby wines that lack structure and definition.

Recently in the New World, we have seen a move towards more elegant, better- balanced and less oak-driven Chardonnays, and this is to be welcomed.