Domaine Samuel Billaud - Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 2024
In Chablis, Samuel Billaud has established himself as one of the most precise winemakers in the vineyard, known for whites built on brightness, clarity, and a mineral quality without excess. Coming from a large family of winemakers, he vinified for nearly twenty years for the family estate before developing his own domaine, whose cuvées are now sought after for their consistency and demanding interpretation of the great Chablis terroirs. The style favors freshness, precision, and tension, with particular attention paid to soils, biodiversity, and carefully hand-sorted harvests. Montée de Tonnerre holds a special place among the Premier Crus, on the right bank of the Serein, slightly set back from the Grands Crus and facing Blanchot. The flagship climat covers about 42.5 hectares and includes Montée de Tonnerre, Chapelot, Côte de Bréchain, and Pied d’Aloup, on shallow soils of Kimmeridgian limestone marls and blue clays. This geology gives the wines a mineral energy, an iodized dimension, and aging potential that often bring it close to the spirit of the Grands Crus. The 2024 vintage, more taut and classic than 2023, further accentuates the saline precision of this cuvée.
This cuvée comes from Chardonnay from two complementary sectors, Chapelot and Montée de Tonnerre, with parcels located in the upper and central parts of the slope. The vines, about 50 to 60 years old according to available information, bring natural density, juice concentration, and depth to the wine that go beyond simple Chablis liveliness. The whole represents a small area of about 0.45 hectares, which explains the limited and sought-after nature of this bottle. The 2024 vintage aging is mostly in tanks, about 80%, with 20% in 500-liter barrels, to combine purity, tension, and a slight volume gain. This proportion of wood remains very measured and serves more for the wine’s breathing than the aromatic expression of aging. Anglo-Saxon critics unanimously highlight the vintage’s energy, the cru’s precision, and this long, saline, chiseled, almost marine finish. Montée de Tonnerre 2024 thus appears as one of the domaine’s most complete cuvées, both firm, deep, and already very readable in its youth.
The color presents itself in a bright pale yellow, with clear reflections that immediately evoke the freshness and tension of Chablis Chardonnay. The nose opens on lime, lemon, nectarine, fresh pear, and a touch of ginger, then evolves towards notes of oyster shell, iodine, wet chalk, and rubbed stone. On the palate, the attack is straight, very defined, carried by a fine, almost crystalline acidity that gives the wine a great sense of movement. The mid-palate gains flesh thanks to the vintage and the age of the vines, with a texture deeper than on the Chablis village cuvées, but without losing the verticality of the cru. The finish is long, saline, tense, with persistence on citrus, white fruits, mineral bitters, and an impression of marine freshness. This Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 2024 will pair remarkably with oysters, langoustines, roasted turbot, sole meunière, seared scallops, creamy poultry, or aged goat cheese. Served around 11 to 12°C, in a white wine glass with a wide opening, it will benefit from about thirty minutes of aeration in its youth and can evolve with great nobility over many years.
Grape variety: Chardonnay
