2024 Domaine Samuel Billaud Chablis Grand Cru "Les Clos"

A combination of frost and mildew that impaired flowering meant the virused vines informing the 2024 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos yielded a derisory five hectoliters per hectare—an amount that would be five times higher in a favorable year—producing just one 228-liter barrel. The wine opens in the glass with a bouquet of nashi pear, Granny Smith apple, orange peel and spring flowers, mingling with oyster shell and a faint hint of laurel leaf. On the palate, it’s medium- to full-bodied and elegantly muscular, with more mid-palate amplitude and dimension than most other wines in the range, underpinned by a bright, vibrant spine of acidity and concluding with a long, saline finish. It is much more classically Chablisien this year compared with its immediate predecessor. 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)