2006 Chablis Blanchots

The Billaud 2006 Chablis Blanchots Vieilles Vignes – as usual, the sole wine at this estate vinified entirely in barrel – smells of musky flowers; slathers the palate in lemon cream tinged with vanilla, lanolin, and resin; and finishes rather diffusely with nutty, lemony, wet stone notes. The principle behind the use of wood here is to warm up and open up what is inherently the most austere and overtly mineral grand cru. But in this instance, the austerity remains, with the barrel elements simply overlain. No doubt one could cellar this for at least 4-5 years, but I am not entirely convinced that this will bring great rewards. 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