Billaud Simon Chablis Les Blanchots Vielles Vignes Grand Cru

Bright, clear hue with clear, green glimmers. The complex nose reveals delicate aromas of white flowers (acacia and lime blossom), vanilla and honey. The palate is well-structured and combines a rich structure and lively acidity.

Burghound 91-94: A slightly riper array of mineral reduction, essence of poached pear and acacia blossom is nuanced by plenty of typical Chablis elements. The sleek, delicious and solidly dense medium weight flavors also possess good minerality and refinement, all wrapped in an intensely saline-inflected finish that is also borderline painfully intense. This lovely effort is built to repay up to a decade of aging though it should be approachable after only 5-ish years.

Decanter 93: Billaud-Simon's Blanchot is a fascinating example of this east-facing grand cru. A sunny site, there is certainly weight warmth on the palate, yet the soils, with a greater presence of white clay, contributes to a lighter style on the palate. Bailly noted that they often need to keep more leaf on the vines to protect from the sun in this warm location. 1/2 of their plots are in organic conversion. Citrus and grapefruit dominate the nose and palate.

Burghound 93: Blanchots is not especially productive, especially near the top of the vineyard and consistent with this, Bailly noted that the yields in 2023 were 45 hl/ha, which he claims is the most that they have ever made. The elegant, cool and airy nose reflects notes of mineral reduction and a similar explosion of floral elements to the Montée de Tonnerre where nuances of zest and quinine add breadth. There is fine volume to the vibrant medium weight flavors that display excellent length on the bone-dry, youthfully austere and markedly compact finale. This is a very fine 2023 that's going to need at least some patience.