2024 Chablis Bougros
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Tasting notes
Samuel Billaud’s 2024 Bougros leaps from the glass with flinty tones and vivid lime zest. This mineral, citrus backbone is complemented by a tightly packed core of rich, almost tropical fruit – mango and lime sorbet at its heart, yet with a persistent, flinty undertow that holds everything in check. There’s a pleasing bitterness that accompanies the bright acidity, giving an iodine grip the long finish.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Jamie Goode, Wine Anorak
More reviews and scores
25% aged in oak. Tank sample. Weighty on the palate, this seems to show the wood a lot more at the moment. Plenty of density and fleshiness here. Lacks a little precision at the moment but once in bottle this will tighten up and drink beautifully for many years. (AWH)
From two plots near Les Preuses, Samuel Billaud’s 2024 Chablis Grand Cru Les Bougros—matured for a year in equal parts tank and barrels, followed by six months in tank—opens in the glass with aromas of pear, apricot and orange oil mingling with vanilla pod and beeswax. On the palate, it’s ample and textural and unsurprisingly less demonstrative than the 2023 rendition. It is laden with vibrant acidity and delivers a more classical profile from a site that can sometimes produce rather rich wines.
Samuel Billaud picks this before the domaine which owns the vines picks fruit for their own wine. 75% stainless steel, 25% in 2-year-old barrels, 456 litres and 500 litres. Vat sample. More obviously oaky on the nose than any of the Samuel Billaud’s tasted so far in this line-up, mealy and spicy, but not too much. Oatmeal creaminess. Rich, smooth and rounded, citrus and apricot. So much bigger than the premiers crus yet still beautifully fresh.
About the producer
Samuel Billaud started making wine under his own name in 2009, but he is one of the most experienced producers in Chablis, having made wine in the region since 1985.