The Billaud-Simon 2006 Chablis Les Clos features a striking alliance of lemon cream, chicken stock, pear nectar, and chalk dust that I can scarcely imagine meeting outside of a bottle of grand cru Chablis. Creamy in texture, with hints of honey and toasted nuts, this finishes sedately, yet with magisterial length and considerable sense of subtle interaction among candied citrus zest, chalk, nuts, and pit fruits. It should reward a half dozen years’ attention. Bernard Billaud’s 2006s reflected their relatively late picking and encroaching botrytis of that vintage in opulence and exoticism. His 2007 premier crus – excepting a hail-influenced Mont-de-Milieu – could hardly be more different: models of brightness, long-line, and transparency to mineral nuance. As usual, the grand cru wines here are released late, and Billaud is highly reluctant to show them in company with the premier crus of the same vintage, so I include on this occasion my notes on those finished 2006s. Billaud’s nephew – a stake holder who has had hands-on responsibility in the cellar in recent years – left the estate after the vinification of the 2008s, amid rumors of an impending legal dispute. Imported by Langdon Shiverick, Los Angeles, CA; tel. (213) 483-5900