Description
Samuel Billaud Vaudesir is a rare find. And a happy one if you can find it. This is all class, it is hard to say just how impressive the wines from this vineyard are. Especially with a winemaker of Samuel’s quality in charge of old vine fruit. Doubly so if you give this wine time to show its very best. Look to be drinking this after 10 years. Buy some Samuel Billaud Petit Chablis or Chablis AC to keep you busy until then.
“The 2017 Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir is one of the highlights of the portfolio this year, wafting from the glass with aromas of aromatic citrus fruit, clear honey, oyster shell and almond paste. On the palate, it’s full-bodied,
concentrated and layered, with racy acids and an intense and penetrating finish. This will be well worth following for the better part of two decades.” Samuel Billaud Vaudesir Chablis Grand Cru 2017 94 Points NM, Vinous
Samuel Billaud is from the Billaud Simon family. For a time he was winemaker for the family business and his negociant business. Then when the family sold out to Faiveley Samuel took 1/6th of the vineyard holdings. This was a big set up for his brand. If you’ve ever had any Billaud Simon Chablis you’ll know the excitement and potential. I first heard of Samuel by driving past his new winery in Chablis in 2019. It got me wondering if he was one of those Billauds. Having finally had the chance to taste his wine. Yes, he is one of those Billauds and continuing the family legacy of top-flight Chablis. Chablis with the steel you want and the purity of fruit on top. It’s hard to describe just what makes them so charming, but when you taste a Billaud Chablis (Sam or Sim!) you just have to slowly nod your head and enjoy the wine in your mouth.
“Once Samuel has moved into his new winery in Chablis, sorted out his own vineyard holdings, I think we should see him right at the top of Chablis producers alongside the likes of Raveneau and Vincent Dauvissat. After all he’s suffered, you might say he deserves it, but that would be ignoring the sheer quality of his wines.” -Neal Martin – 2014
Chablis
The Kimmeridgian soils that make Chablis taste like Chablis is evident in these wines. They have more definition of the region and more structure than a Petit Chablis. But without the fruit weight and intensity of the better sites. Great wines for drinking young or youngish.
Chardonnay
The grape that you can plant anywhere, in any climate and do anything to and it will still taste like an OK wine. When people hit the sweet spot of site, climate, cropping and winemaking, Chardonnay becomes a magical wine that will age gracefully but charm you at any age. Chardonnays can range from cool-climate lean and citrusy to warmer climate tropical and overt. Oak and lees can add flavouring as can malolactic fermentation.
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