2024 Samuel Billaud - Chablis Sechet Vieilles Vignes (750ml) [PRE ARRIVAL]

Samuel Billaud comes from one of Chablis's most respected winemaking families and spent years as winemaker at Domaine Billaud-Simon before founding his own label in 2009. In 2015 he moved into a gravity-fed winery in the heart of the appellation, building a range widely compared to benchmark producers like the Raveneau family, with Séchet standing among his most storied bottlings.

Séchet lies within the broader Vaillons vineyard on the left bank of the Serein, planted on Kimmeridgian soil over hard clay that holds moisture through the growing season. The vines here were planted by Billaud's great-grandmother and now run between ninety and one hundred years old. A hailstorm on May 1st, 2024 devastated the crop, reducing yields to just ten hectoliters per hectare, among the smallest harvests Billaud has ever brought in. Given the tiny volume, he departed from his usual stainless steel regimen, fermenting and aging the wine in three glass wine globes alongside a couple of 500-liter oak casks to protect the fruit's purity.

The result soars from the glass with Granny Smith apple, lemon oil, sage, and spring flowers, joined by notes of passion fruit and hazelnut. The palate is chiseled and intensely pure, with bracing acidity and a long, sapid, mouthwatering finish. It calls for something equally precise, like fresh oysters or a delicate roast chicken.