When visiting Maison Albert Bichot, one is naturally inclined toward admiration even before tasting the wines! Mostly, on account of two reasons: the open, direct and humorous personality of Albéric Bichot – whose deep knowledge of Burgundian terroirs and people is remarkable – and the estate’s extraordinary architectural heritage, from its historic working cellars to its grand reception spaces.
Albéric Bichot acquired many plots, meaning that the maison now has 100 hectares of vineyards. Here we find the Clos Frantin and Domaine Château-Gris on the Côte de Nuits, the Domaine du Pavillon and the Domaine Adélie on the Chalonnaise coast as well as the Domaine Long Depaquit in Chablis and Domaine de Rochegrès in Beaujolais. These wines are certified as organic. At the same time, the maison carries out its trading business by purchasing only carefully selected grapes. The wines are all vinified in Beaune under the leadership of the very talented Matthieu Mangenot.
In recent decades, the estate has taken a major step forward with an unwavering commitment to raising quality. Wines from the estates’ vineyards and those from the négociant activity are kept separately, and the approach in both vineyard and cellar is as natural as possible. The grapes are vinified in a state-of-the-art vathouse located in the heart of Beaune. Albéric Bichot has brought renewed drive to the estate, and the results speak for themselves.

The Moutonne vineyard (2.35 ha) enjoys a unique status. It straddles two grand crus, Vaudésir (95%) and Preuses (5%). It derives its unity from its location inside a geographical "bowl". Moutonne is not an officially recorded lieu-dit, and its name does not appear on the government's grand crus decree of 1938. It was not until 1951 that the INAO formally acknowledged its current status as a grand cru monopole! The shape of the plot and its ideal south-south-easterly location make it a natural sun trap. Harvesting is entirely manual, and carried out only when all the different factors – the grapes' sugar maturity, acid balance and aromatic character – are in optimal alignment. During vinification, neutrality is the watchword: to avoid introducing or encouraging any bias which could detract from the pure expression of this particular terroir. The domaine combines the use of recent barrels (one or two previous wines) and a very small proportion of older barrels (up to five wines).