Billaud-Simon Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 2023

Billaud-Simon is a renowned Chablis family house, comprehensively renewed since Bernard Billaud and his nephew Samuel took the reins in the 1980s and moved towards closer control of the fruit and minimal use of wood. This is a Grand Cru from Bougros, one of the seven Grand Cru climats on the right bank of the Serein, made entirely from Chardonnay. The vineyard sits on Kimmeridgian limestone, a soil of compacted clay and fossilised marine shells laid down when the region was a warm sea, and it is this seam that gives Chablis its taut acidity and its saline, oyster-shell minerality. At Grand Cru level the wine is aged in barrel, though the house keeps the oak restrained so the terroir leads; barrel ageing and lees contact add oxygen, texture and a nutty depth without imposing obvious wood. The colour is bright gold with green tints. The nose is precise and complex, with lemon and green apple over white flowers, hazelnut and toasted bread. The palate is concentrated and mineral, its citrus core wrapped in a fine, saline texture that carries a long, stony, honeyed finish. Serve at 11 to 13 degrees in a full white glass, and decant a young vintage.