2016 Chablis Valmur Grand Cru

Samuel Billaud is another producer who deserves more recognition. I have written extensively in the past about how a family dispute after Domaine Billaud-Simon was bought by Faiveley, led to Samuel Billaud having to rebuild almost from square one. When I started visiting Billaud, he was working out of a temporary facility, but over the last couple of years he has overseen the construction of a splendid new winery in the heart of Chablis replete with a portfolio that seems to expand every year! “There was frost in April 2017 that destroyed about 50% of the production depending on the plot,” he told me. “After the flowering the cycle was good. During the flowering we could see the vrille so the potential crop was reduced enormously. During the summer there was normal weather with not too much mildew or oïdium. We started harvest around 4 September, picking each parcel according to the maturity. The grapes were healthy with no botrytis, so we did not have to harvest too much. It is a surprise to have this acidity and mineralité and tension as I thought it would be more like 2011 or 2015, when there was too much sun. The 2017 vintage is different. It’s not 2014 or 2016 but there is a certain dynamism and good balance between structure and acidity.” There are many highlights throughout the 2016s and 2017s, and like Benoît Droin, Samuel Billaud is a winemaker who seemed to overcome the challenges posed by the difficult growing season in 2016. There are one or two cuvées that just lack some class, not least a vexing 2016 Bougros, however, some of his 2017 Premier Crus convey enormous potential.