Samuel Billaud

I first came across Samuel when he was making the wine at the family Domaine Billaud-Simon. Sadly, this came to an end through family disagreements and Samuel instead rented cellar space in La Chapelle Vaupeltigne. Difficult times, but Samuel is now in a much better place in many ways: physically in so far he has taken over some excellent premises in Chablis, backing on to his grandparents old house, and metaphysically since the family trials are now behind him and he has regained a proportion of the vineyards.

The earlier wines in the range, and also the excellent Séchet Vieilles Vignes, are made entirely in stainless steel. Other crus are usually blended between barrel components and stainless steel, while the grands crus spend their first year in barrel and are then racked into double sized stainless steel barrels before bottling the following May. Sulphur use is relatively low. The main barrel sources are Chassin, Ermitage and local cooper Florent Tschiret

Every time I taste with Samuel I am astonished by the beauty of his wines. They can be quite rich with the perfume of healthy ripe grapes, but they never lose their essential Chablisian core and each terroir is beautifully represented. Samuel is one of the very finest producers in Chablis. Barrels are used for the Grands Crus and for some of the 1ers Crus. This is a first division address for Chablis.