2007 Chablis Mont de Milieu

The fruit in this site was so savaged by hail (he declared it a 70% loss) that Bernard Billaud had to divide up what little 2007 Chablis Mont-de-Milieu was harvested into an unusually small tank plus three older barriques (and, needless to say, no separate old vines bottling was essayed, as would usually be the case). The result is a wine around 40% cask-matured, whereas usually this cru sees no wood here. An overtly chalk dust character commences already with the nose, mingling with apple and grapefruit on a creamily-textured palate, along with considerable bitterness of fruit pits and pips, which faint notes of wood do nothing to mitigate. Dark, low-toned, and faintly bitter as well as chalky in its undeniably long finish, this also evinces a touch of warmth. I would plan on consuming it within the next year or two. 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