Winemaker Notes
The elegant nose features scents of white-fleshed fruit along with a discrete hint of oak. This wine is mineral, nervous and round, with lovely length on the palate.
Taste this wine with finely prepared fish and seafood, or with grilled or stewed white meats and poultry.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
What an attractive Burgundian chardonnay, showing an excellent balance of forthright citrus and dried-pear aromas with delicate oak and herbal freshness. Medium-bodied. Just a hint of bitterness makes this even more animated in the finish. From organically grown grapes. Fermented and matured in oak casks, only 10% new. Drink or hold.
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Decanter
Lovely aroma of ripe apple and apricot, along with a suggestion of white flowers on the initial attack. The texture is supple, ripe and creamy. The grapes are from 1.2ha in this lieu-dit on the northern edge of the appellation, not far from the premier cru Champs Martin. The vines are planted in heavy clay soils over a hard layer of limestone. This will be ready to drink on release.
Since 1350, the Bichot family has called Burgundy home. But, it was in 1831 that Bernard Bichot founded a merchant house bearing his name in Monthélie, a couple of kilometers south of Beaune. At the end of the 19th century, his grandson Albert Bichot took the family business into a new direction and created the winery, Maison Albert Bichot as we know it. The family heritage has been perpetuated from father to son since then. The family crest, consisting of a deer and antlers, has been synonymous with the winery since its inception.
Since 1996, Albéric Bichot has represented the 6th generation managing the winery. The winery’s mission is to utilize the best fruit possible to create the best wine and best expression of terroir. In the constant pursuit of accomplishing this mission, Albert Bichot has acquired 250 acres of vineyards in the most reputed growing areas throughout Burgundy. In addition to this expertise as a wine-grower, Albert Bichot carefully sources grapes with an extremely hands-on approach, in order to vinify many of its regional and village wines, enabling them to supply high quality wines with continuity. For these grapes sourced from our partner growers, quality, and a close partnership, are of the utmost importance.
Albert Bichot owns 6 Domaines set at the heart of 5 great vinicultural regions that make up Burgundy: Chablis, Cote de Nuits, Cote de Beaune, Cote Chalonnaise, and Beaujolais. Each estate consists of vineyards cultivated with sustainable practices, as well as facilities, cellars and dedicated winemaking teams devoted to wines of that Domaine and region.
The 6 estates include:
- Domaine Long-Depaquit in Chablis
- Chateau Gris in the Cote de Nuits (Nuits-St.-Georges)
- Domaine du Clos-Frantin in the Cote de Nuits (Nuits-St.-Georges)
- Domaine du Pavillon in the Cote de Beaune (Pommard)
- Domaine Adelie in the Cote Chalonnaise (Mercurey)
- Domaine du Rochegres in Beaujolais (Moulin-à-Vent)
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
Beloved for its deep and flavorful reds made of Pinot Noir, Mercurey is the largest and most important village in the Côte Chalonnaise of Burgundy with most of its vineyards tucked away in hillsides or stretched along the aptly-named “Golden Valley.” This valley, sheltered from the moist and cool air that funnels along at lower elevations, is ideal for ripening Pinot noir.
Mercurey follows strict yield laws, similar to those at the Côte d’Or village level, promoting the development of deep, full, concentrated and age-worthy Pinot noirs. In their youth, a chewy and rich structure supports flavors of ripe strawberry, raspberry and cherry. Age brings notes of underbrush, tobacco and cocoa.
While Pinot Noir claims the majority of Mercurey vineyard acreage, Chardonnay does grow here and produces uniqely floral and spicey scented white wines.