2007 Chablis

Assembled from separately vinified lots grown in Les Pargues; around Poinchy; and between Mont-de-Milieu and Montee de Tonnerre, Billaud’s 2007 Chablis features luscious white peach and its pit, grapefruit and its zest, all with a smoky, fusil aura that many associate with the banging together of Kimmeridgian chalk rocks. There is a broth-like sense of richness (if less, certainly, than in the outstanding corresponding 2006) and underlying extract as well as a lovely sense of lift and refreshment. This will prove worth drinking for the next 2-3 years at least. Bernard Billaud’s 2006s reflected their relatively late picking and encroaching botrytis of that vintage in opulence and exoticism. His 2007 premier crus – excepting a hail-influenced Mont-de-Milieu – could hardly be more different: models of brightness, long-line, and transparency to mineral nuance. As usual, the grand cru wines here are released late, and Billaud is highly reluctant to show them in company with the premier crus of the same vintage, so I include on this occasion my notes on those finished 2006s. Billaud’s nephew – a stake holder who has had hands-on responsibility in the cellar in recent years – left the estate after the vinification of the 2008s, amid rumors of an impending legal dispute. Imported by Langdon Shiverick, Los Angeles, CA; tel. (213) 483-5900