Two parcels - one in Chapelot, the other in Montée de Tonnerre - are the sources of this delicious, ageworthy premier cru. Yields were low, but this is not ponderous at all. In fact it's very light-footed, with notes of citrus, white pepper and just a hint of wood. Drinking Window 2020 - 2028

The 2017 Chablis Montée de Tonerre 1er Cru has a strict and linear nose, showing just a touch of reduction at first, though it opens up nicely with time in the glass. Subtle but complex. The taut, fresh palate is well balanced with fine acidity and quite intense. A very composed and focused, live-wire finish encourages you back for another sip. This is simply a superb Chablis Montée de Tonnerre. Tasted blind at the annual Burgfest tasting in Savigny-lès-Beaune. -- Neal Martin

The domaine’s parcels in Montée de Tonnerre are not quite as venerable as those in Séchet of Vaillons, but these vines range from forty to fifty years of age, so they are emphatically not young vines. Twenty-five percent of this cuvée is barrel-fermented in 600 liter casks. The 2017 Domaine Billaud Montée de Tonnerre is outstanding, offering up a bright and complex nose of fresh lime, pear, a refined base of chalky minerality, citrus blossoms and a gentle touch of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, crisp and complex, with a fine core, outstanding backend intensity of flavor, snappy acids and lovely focus and grip on the vibrant finish. I love the backend lift in this wine.

This is relatively classic aromatically speaking with its cool citrus, floral, spice and quinine-suffused aromas even though the wood treatment is a bit more prominent. There is a sleek mouth feel to the finer if not quite as intense and delineated middle weight flavors that exude a fine bead of minerality onto the saline, citrusy and moderately dry finale. I quite like this as it's akin to rolling small pebbles around in the mouth though it's a wine that's going to require at least a few years of patience first.

The 2017 Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre is also performing well, though it doesn't attain quite the heights I thought it might a year ago. A youthfully reserved bouquet of white flowers, citrus oil and honeycomb precedes a medium to full-bodied, satiny and enveloping palate that's nicely concentrated, concluding with a chalky finish but without the electric energy one looks for in a top vintage. - WK