The recently bottled 2023 Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot offers a flamboyant bouquet of gooseberry, lime, grapefruit and lychee, complemented by a hint of vanilla pod. Full-bodied, elegant and layered, it displays a crisp core of fruit framed by racy acids, concluding with a mouthwatering, saline finish. Save for Les Preuses, it is the least powerful among Billaud’s grand cru bottlings. Samuel Billaud established his own state-of-the-art winery in the center of Chablis in 2009, and he has since emerged as one of the village’s leading producers, crafting wines that unite texture and precision. Working with four hectares of organically farmed estate vineyards, supplemented by purchased grapes—for which Billaud determines the harvest date, and his team usually picks the fruit—harvesting of ripe yet vibrant grapes is the rule here.(KK)

The 2023 Chablis Blanchot Grand Cru comes from the mid-slope parcel. This aged like the Bougros except the barrels are two instead of three years old. Surprisingly, that makes a tangible difference on the nose, where you can feel the vanillary patina of new oak. The palate is very well balanced with superb depth. That touch of new oak perhaps just masks some of the terroir expression on the finish. Give it three or four years.(NM)

Here the wood treatment is more prominent though it stops short of being invasive on the aromas of pretty white flower, mineral reduction, pear and a hint of anise. The super-sleek, intense and detailed flavors possess good power that carries over to the stony and impressively long finish where the wood reflected by the nose slowly reemerges.