2016 Samuel Billaud Chablis Les Grands Terroirs 750 ml

The Future Star of Chablis

Wine Access members are savvy buyers, and for those among you who love mineral-crisp, richly-textured bargain white wines, a hotbed of discovery waits in France’s Chablis region. Ninety minutes from the Côte d’Or, this chilly French outpost sits on top of ancient, limestone seabeds that make it the epicenter of bonafide Chardonnay steals and deals.  

Look past the big names, and you’ll find glorious Chardonnays designed for every-day-drinking like today’s 2016 Samuel Billaud Chablis Les Grands Terroirs—a pure, unadulterated Chablis marked by classic sea-spray minerality and stony silex crunchiness. Samuel Billaud is a “maverick” who is “at the top of Chablis producers,” according to Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, working with some of the finest, most-established growers in Chablis. 

Aged on the wine’s fine lees in stainless steel, this is pure Chablis, with a kind of salted Meyer lemon peel aroma, sliced yellow apple, and honeysuckle notes. Terrific earthy aromas are more mineral-driven, like pulverized rocky limestone soils. This is top-flight Chardonnay from a winemaker who can coax true terroir out of Chablis soils.

Samuel Billaud spent more than two decades building up Domaine Billaud-Simon (whose wines Parker’s Advocate called “impressive,” and “models of brightness, long-line, and transparency to mineral nuance”) before breaking free and establishing his own domaine.

Now, almost a decade after having started over practically from scratch, Samuel has amassed roughly 10 acres of his own vines and is sourcing fruit from exceptional growers. The result is that Billaud is “producing classy wines of crystalline purity,” says the Advocate, which adds, “this address already belongs on any list of Chablis's best.”

From Chablis’ ancient Kimmeridgian clay and limestone marl soils, Billaud’s vines are able to ripen Chardonnay grapes even as they struggle against bone-chillingly cool weather. These conditions are powerful factors that enable Samuel to make such gorgeous Chablis wine. Here’s a winemaker who is on his way to producing masterpiece bottles that someday will fetch triple-digit prices. Luckily for us, that day is not today.