Domaine Billaud-Simon Les Preuses, Chablis Grand Cru, France

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The 2018 Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses opens in the glass with aromas of fresh peach, citrus oil and oyster shell. Medium to full-bodied, round and charming, with ripe acids and a fleshy core of fruit, it's open-knit and elegant.

Unfurling in the glass with scents of orange blossom, oyster shell and wet stones, the 2017 Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses is full-bodied, satiny and enveloping, with a layered, multidimensional mid-palate that's underpinned by a lively spine of acidity, concluding with a precise, stony finish.

The 2016 Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses was vinified entirely in stainless steel this year. The wine offers up aromas of honeyed peaches and flowers, followed by a medium to full-bodied, tensile, tangy palate, with a reserved profile and a stony, saline finish. It's deeper and more concentrated than the Vaudésir. This isn't a historic rendition of this bottling, but it's a fine effort in a challenging vintage.

The 2014 Chablis Grand Cru les Preuses comes from 63-year-old vines and sees 16 months in 10% French oak, the remainder stainless steel. It has a lifted, oyster shell scented bouquet that is very well defined, even a touch of mint developing with continued aeration in the glass. The palate is fresh and vibrant with crisp acidity, quite saline towards the finish with a long, lightly spiced aftertaste. This has great ageing potential and may merit a higher score down the line.

The 2013 Chablis Grand Cru les Preuses has a more reserved bouquet, touches of ginger infusing the citrus fruit that gain more intensity with time. The palate is fresh on the entry with a keen line of acidity, but it loses a little composure toward the finish. This is certainly not a bad Les Preuses, although it does not possess the complexity of (what turned out to be), Louis Jadot’s Les Preuses. Like several of Billaud-Simon's other 2013s, I anticipate the succeeding vintage to offer a higher level of quality due to the more benevolent growing season.