Samuel Billaud is one of the most respected winemakers in Chablis. He had been the winemaker at Billaud Simon, his family’s estate, since 1985, but left in 2009 to set up on his own. At first he bought in his grapes, but subsequently took back control of a proportion of his original vineyards in some of Chablis’s finest sites, including Les Clos and Vaudésir. He has since carved out a place for himself among the top names in the appellation, making wines entirely under his own name. Both Neal Martin and William Kelley now tip him as a top flight producer here. His taut, coiled Chardonnays lie at the tight, mineral end of the Chablis spectrum. He achieves this through early picking, organic farming methods,minimal use of oak, and long ageing on lees.