Chablis Premier Cru 'Séchet Vieilles Vignes', Domaine Samuel Billaud, 2024
Chablis Premier Cru 'Séchet Vieilles Vignes', 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:
"10 hl/ha translates into three wine-globes and one barrel. A light lemon tint to the colour. The bouquet is very classy, all on those dry stones, with a fantastic precision. Very direct, very linear, almost a tannic touch since the fruit is always so dry here. Good persistence. Makes one salivate! Drink from 2029-2035. Tasted Jun 2025. *5/5 stars*"
"The vines that produce Billaud's Séchet Vieilles Vignes are the oldest that he owns, planted almost a century ago in the heart of the lieu-dit. The yields were tiny in 2024 – no more than 10 hl/ha – but produced a wine with exotic aromas of passion fruit, gooseberry and hazelnut. The texture is silky, concentrated and long. Fermentation was carried out entirely in glass wine globes to preserve the fruit's intense purity. This thrilling Chablis will age for decades to come."
"Cool, pure, layered and airy aromas focused mostly on citrus confit, lemongrass and oyster shell. There is seriously good concentration to the powerful and palate staining medium weight flavors that display equally good depth and persistence on a mildly rustic finale. This is old school Chablis, a bit rough and tumble but packed with potential. *Sweet spot* *Outstanding*"
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