Samuel Billaud, Chablis 1er Cru Sechet Vieilles Vignes, 2024 GIRBONCHAMP and the Cuvée des Commandeurs

and the Cuvée des Commandeurs is a step up in elegance and complexity from its everyday bottlings

and a warm spice finish that lingers just the right amount

and élevage entirely in used 228-liter French barrels — she has bought no new oak since 2012

This vintage shines with electric citrus—lime

transitioning from selling grapes to crafting benchmark natural wines

Samuel Billaud, Chablis 1er Cru Sechet Vieilles Vignes, 2024 GIRBONCHAMP and the Cuvée des CommandeursSechet earns its name. It is a dry, poor pocket inside the Vaillons group on the left bank where the Kimmeridgian marls thin out and give way to white clay, and the setting is naturally cold, so ripening slows to a crawl. What comes out is stony and incisive, with the kind of freshness that holds for a decade or more in bottle and Billaud's parcel here is family ground, planted by his great grandfather, which is what the Vieilles Vignes on the label