Samuel Billaud, making some of the best wines in Chablis
Samuel Billaud was working for his family domaine, Billaud-Simon, a member of the sixth generation of the family to grow wine in Chablis. He’d been working for 30 years in the family domaine when, in 2014, his uncle decided he wanted to sell. So the domaine was broken up into three, and the majority with the name sold to Faiveley. Samuel kept a number of vineyard plots (4 hectares in all). But he had to start a new domaine, Samuel Billaud, using these plots and supplementing them with leased vineyards. It must have been a difficult time for him, but the good news for us is that Domaine Samuel Billaud is making some of the best wines in Chablis. He was in London to show off his wines, along with his son Jules who is currently studying at the Lycee Viticole in Beaune.
Currently, Samuel leases 10 hectares of vines, supplementing his own 4 hectares. But the leased vineyards are farmed just the same way as the domaine vineyards. Farming is organic, but he doesn’t want to certify. ‘In 2024 it was an advantage not to have the label,’ he says. The growers who work with him are either organic or follow lutte raisonée.
We began by looking at the 2024 vintage. This was a tricky vintage, and the perils of frost, hail and mildew meant that quantities are half the normal level of production.
Elevage is in stainless steel (80%) and barrel (20%), with the premier crus having a mix of barrels and steel, and the grand crus mainly barrel (but it varies). These 2024s are all cask/tank samples.
Samuel Billaud Petit Chablis 2024 Bourgogne, France
This is from a plot just above Les Clos, and it punches well above its weight. Lively, bright, stony and mineral with good texture and weight. This shows depth and vitality. Very fine. 94/100
Samuel Billaud Chablis 2024 Bourgogne, France
Stony, precise and mineral with nice intensity of limey fruit. Really vivid with nice acidity. Chiselled. 94/100
Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru Montmains 2024 Bourgogne, France
This is concentrated and taut with focused lemon and lime fruit showing nice tension. Electric and quite mineral with lime, good acidity, and nice precision. 95/100
Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru Les Fourneaux 2024 Bourgogne, France
There is a linear quality to this, but also a bit of depth. Hints of cream. Bright, linear acidity with lime and crystalline lemon. Nice tension. 95/100
Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons Vieilles Vignes 2024 Bourgogne, France
This is crystalline with a mineral tension and some salinity. There’s a hint of dairy sitting under the fruit and it finishes long and mineral with lovely tension. Some juiciness. Great precision. 96/100
Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru Mont de Milieu 2024 Bourgogne, France
Nicely textural with harmony and depth to the bold citrus fruit, and a crystalline mineral edge. Subtle dairy hints lurking in the background. Fine and chiselled with a stony edge. Great concentration of flavour with good focus. 96/100
Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonerre 2024 Bourgogne, France
This has some exotic peach and pear character as well as crystalline citrus fruit, with a nice liquid mineral character. Fine, fresh and detailed with nice purity and harmony. It’s ripe but it stays really balanced. 94/100
Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru Séchet Vielles Vignes 2024 Bourgogne, France
Fresh and focused with bright lemony fruit showing nice texture and weight. It’s quite harmonious showing good concentration. Mineral and tense with precision, and a long finish. 96/100
Samuel Billaud Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 2024 Bourgogne, France
50% raised in 500 litre barrels. This has incredible concentration and weight with bold citrus and pineapple and pear fruit with amazing vitality and intensity. There’s a spicy, mineral character. Really powerful with a slight hint of cabbage and gunsmoke adding complexity. This is a striking wine showing real weight. 97/100
Samuel Billaud Chablis Grand Cru Blanchots 2024 Bourgogne, France
Highly aromatic. Lovely spice-laden citrus fruit nose with notes of grapefruit and orange peel. The palate is concentrated, refined and pure. Stony and mineral with lovely tension. Fine and chiselled showing good texture and purity. 96/100
Bottled wines
Samuel Billaud Chablis 2021 Bourgogne, France
Lovely aromatics: haunting notes of meal, spice, lime, dairy and cabbage. The palate is stony, detailed and mineral with nice density and a lovely finely spiced finish. Good acidity. 94/100
Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru Valourent 2021 Bourgogne, France
Fine and expressive with nice tension, and good acidity. Mineral-laced citrus and pear fruit showing good intensity. Finely spiced finish. 95/100
Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaumes 2020 Bourgogne, France
Textured with some pear and white peach fruit and some crystalline citrus. Generous fruit here with real intensity and broad texture and depth. Very satisfying in a riper style. 95/100
Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru Fourneaux 2020 Bourgogne, France
South exposure, 35 year old vines. Warm vintage. This is textured with lovely pear and citrus fruit, with nice mineral tension and detail. Liquid minerals. Very fine. 95/100
Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonerre 2016 Bourgogne, France
This was a hail, frost and mildew affected vintage. It’s complex, layered and has nice density, with fine spices, a hint of cabbage and an appealing salty edge. Broad and layered with nice tension and precision. This has a long future agead of it. 96/100
Samuel Billaud Chablis Grand Cru Vaudesir 2015 Bourgogne, France
Two plots, one in the east near La Moutonne (warm) and the other near Grenouille (cold minerality), and this gives good balance in the wine. This spends a year in 500 litre barrels. It’s complex, taut, mineral and precise. Still very fresh with lovely complexity and a sense of tension. This is crystalline with real finesse and purity. 97/100
UK agent: Charles Taylor Wines
