Chablis Premier Cru 'Fourneaux', Domaine Samuel Billaud, 2024
Chablis Premier Cru 'Fourneaux', Domaine Samuel Billaud, 2024
- 75cl
- White Still
- Chardonnay
Please note, en primeur wines are not available for delivery until they arrive in the UK
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Est. delivery in 2027
Samuel Billaud now sits unambiguously at the very top table of Chablis. Neal Martin put it bluntly: “Samuel Billaud is one of the most exciting winemakers in Chablis… Would I put him in the same tier as Vincent Dauvissat and Raveneau? I would.”
The 2024 vintage only sharpens the focus. Chablis was hit brutally by frost, mildew and savage yield losses, yet Billaud emerged with wines of striking purity and control. Jasper Morris describes them as wines of “precision and purity without any rot in sight,” drawing comparisons to 2014. Yields are tiny – in some cases vanishingly so – and several cuvées simply do not exist this year. What remains is a concentrated core of village and Premier Cru wines that show exactly why this estate is held in such esteem, with Martin continuing, “Billaud has become highly sought-after over the last five years, a winemaker at the top of his game”.
Crucially, this is still Chablis priced for drinking, not collecting dust. While Dauvissat and especially Raveneau have long sailed into another pricing universe, Billaud offers a comparable level of seriousness at far more humane numbers.
What the critics say:
"The 2024 Chablis Les Fourneaux 1er Cru was cropped at a decent 30 hi/ha and matured entirely in tank. This has a well-defined nose with hints of lemon curd and melted candle wax infusing the citrus fruit. The palate is fresh and vibrant. It's quite crisp and delineated with a mineral-rich finish, though I feel that the Butteaux offers a little more sustain at the moment. The 2024 is one to watch."
"The right-bank climat Forneaux, located away from the river, was among the areas least affected by the hail and mildew in 2024. Here, the grapes deliver a wine with a seductive aroma of passion fruit and verbena, and a texture that blends rich intensity with a firm, mineral underpinning. Fermentation is done entirely in tank. Should drink well in two or three years and last another 15 beyond that."
"A cool, pure and very Chablis-like nose also displays the classic markers of lemon rind, sea breeze and oyster shell. There is even better size, weight and power to the broad-shouldered flavors that exhibit excellent length on the mineral-driven, detailed, robust and compact finale. This is quite simply an outstanding Fourneaux, a vineyard that tends to get lost when surrounded by those with greater reputations, so don't overlook it as this is impressive. *Sweet spot* *Outstanding*"
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