2006 Chablis Les Clos
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Tasting notes
The Billaud-Simon 2006 Chablis Les Clos features a striking alliance of lemon cream, chicken stock, pear nectar, and chalk dust that I can scarcely imagine meeting outside of a bottle of grand cru Chablis. Creamy in texture, with hints of honey and toasted nuts, this finishes sedately, yet with magisterial length and considerable sense of subtle interaction among candied citrus zest, chalk, nuts, and pit fruits. It should reward a half dozen years’ attention. 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
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Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
David Schildknecht, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
(tasted from barrel) Exotic aromas of honey and spices. Fat, sweet and honeyed, with an almost oily quality to its exotic fruit and spice flavors. There's no shortage of intensity here but this very ripe and slightly warm wine shows little obvious Clos character or minerality. Like a few of these 2006 crus, this will give considerable early pleasure but may be best in its first few years in bottle.