de Bichery
Domaine de Bichery farms eight hectares of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier on the chalky soils of Neuville-sur-Seine and Gyé-sur-Seine in the Côte des Bar. Raphaël Piconnet grew up on the Lieu-dit Bichery in Neuville-sur-Seine, which gives the estate its name. He and his wife Hannah took over the family business in 2015 and converted it to organic farming right away; since February 2019 the estate has held Ecocert certification. The wines ferment spontaneously and age in used Burgundian barrels, without fining or filtration. All the Champagnes are bottled as Brut Nature, with no dosage and minimal sulphur.
Charles Piconnet and the slopes above the Seine
Raphaël Piconnet grew up on the Lieu-dit Bichery in Neuville-sur-Seine, where his grandfather Charles tended the vineyards on the slopes above the Seine for decades. After years of training in Burgundy, Alsace and the Jura, with a stint in Switzerland, he returned in 2013. He had met Hannah, who comes from East Frisia, during the 2012 harvest. In 2015 the two took over the family business and converted it to organic farming right away. That same year they vinified their first Champagne; since February 2019 the estate has held Ecocert certification.
Eight hectares in Neuville-sur-Seine and Gyé-sur-Seine
The eight hectares lie in Neuville-sur-Seine and Gyé-sur-Seine, on the chalky soils of the Côte des Bar in the south of Champagne. The plots are picked and vinified separately, and each yields its own wine.
Les Terres Mêlées, mixed soils, comes from the two plots Les Mées and Val Ligé in the Neuville-sur-Seine terroir and is a pure Pinot Noir. La Source takes its name from the spring vineyard above the village and blends roughly 50 percent Pinot Noir with 40 percent Chardonnay and 10 percent Meunier. The Les Fontaines Rosé is likewise pure Pinot Noir, pressed white and blended with a portion of saignée; the Saignée de Meunier comes from Meunier alone.
Spontaneous fermentation and used wood
The base wines ferment with wild yeasts, partly in stainless steel and partly in barrel, then age in used Burgundian oak barrels. For La Source, 60 percent ferments in stainless steel and 40 percent in used barriques, before the entire wine moves into wood. For Les Fontaines Rosé the ratio is 60 percent barrel and 40 percent stainless steel, for Les Terres Mêlées it's split evenly; both are aged in Burgundian pièces. The wines remain unfined and unfiltered, with sulphur added only minimally if at all, and Les Terres Mêlées is bottled with no added sulphur. Raphaël and Hannah Piconnet do not declare vintages.
Brut Nature with no dosage
All Champagnes from Domaine de Bichery are disgorged with zero grams of dosage and rest on the lees for at least 24 months beforehand. The lees ageing and the absence of sugar show, in La Source, as citrus peel, quince and a chalky edge, and in Les Fontaines Rosé as raspberry and blood orange.