Wine Advisor
Billaud Simon, Chablis 1er Cru Montee de Tonnerre 2014
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Hints of yellow fruits on the nose, with complicating notes of white pepper and crushed oyster shell; smells austere. A bit sweeter on entry than the Mont de Milieu but even more backward and stony today in spite of a roundness of texture. In a more refined style, with a hint of orange oil giving this bone-dry premier cru a sexy suggestion of sweetness. Finishes with penetrating minerality.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Very pale yellow. Crystalline aromas of green apple, lime oil, white pepper, spices, crushed stone and chalk. Densely packed and fine-grained, with lime and apple flavors energized by pronounced minerality. Really stuffed with material but at the same time weightless. Saturates the palate with lime, crushed stone and white pepper on the vibrant, perfumed back end. This wine will get a long élevage, noted régisseur Olivier Bailly, who will probably bottle it next January.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2014 Chablis 1er Cru Montee de Tonnerre is a knockout wine from what is essentially now the Chablis branch of Maison Naively under winemaker Olivier Bailly. It has a lifted, slightly floral bouquet with attractive apple blossom, gooseberry and granitic aromas that are well defined. The palate is fresh and vibrant, very good salinity here with a tensile, steely and almost penetrating finish. This is a great Montée de Tonnerre and it comes highly recommended.
About the Producer
The unique terroirs of the Chablis region lend these wines their distinctive character and minerality！ Chateau Lestage Simon is one of the wineries in the Haut-Medoc appellation in Bordeaux, France. It was released in 2012 by L'Alliance des Crus Bourgeois Chuang (Cru Bourgeois) is on the list. Situated near the village of Saint Seurin de Cadourne in the Medoc, Château Simon draws on a diverse range of soils. The vines are planted on the limestone plateau by the river, an atypical area of land known as the "Petit Pomerol du Medoc". Château Simon currently has 39 hectares of vineyards covered mainly with clay-limestone and gravel. Sixty-two per cent of the vineyard is devoted to Merlot, 37 per cent to Cabernet Sauvignon and the remaining 1 per cent to Petit Verdot, all with an average vine age of 30 years. Once the grapes have reached the ideal state of ripeness, Château Simon employs workers to hand-pick them. After the grapes have been selected and broken into skins, they are fermented in fully temperature-controlled fermenters for 20 to 22 days. The wine is then matured in French oak barrels for a further 12 months before being bottled in the winery. The wines from Château Simon are generally smooth, full-bodied, rich and balanced, with good cellaring potential.
