Bichot Turn green!

After cultivating his vines according to the principles of sustainable agriculture during the 1990s, the Maison Albert from Beaune Bichot decided, under the impetus of Alain Serveau, technical director, and Christophe Chauvel, who arrived in the early 2000s as manager of the Côte-d'Or and Côte estates Chalonnaise , to gradually convert its plots to organic farming.

This process, which required nearly 15 years of work, finally culminated in obtaining Ecocert organic certification in 2014. Another milestone was reached in 2018 with the Ecocert certification for organic wines. "When our estates were certified organic, we chose not to mention the label on our wine labels. But in recent years, attitudes have changed: our customers and influencers see the organic label as a real added value, and it's now essential to visually associate it with our bottles," explains Albéric. Bichot Christophe Chauvel, estate manager for Côte-d'Or and Côte Chalonnaise He adds: "While the transition to organic viticulture and organic wines certainly has its advantages, the difficulties, costs, constraints, risks, and imperfections of these practices should not be overlooked. Therefore, a long and gradual preparatory process, a good knowledge of one's terroirs, and constant observation are all factors that contribute to success."

At Albert's Bichot It is explained that: "organic viticulture is one means, among others, of addressing above all sustainable viticulture: diversity in the choice of plants, development of biodiversity, search for alternation and alternatives in the choice of treatment products and their mode of action in order to encourage the plant to develop its natural defenses. The ultimate goal is to act in respect of the terroirs, their maintenance and their preservation, in order to express the characteristics specific to each of them."

This certification applies to all wines from the Côte d'Or and Côte estates. Chalonnaise : Domaine of Clos Frantin and Château -Gray, Domaine of the Pavilion and Domaine Adélie. The 2018 organic white wines will be available for sale from mid-April and the reds in June. The officially recognized organic area for the estates of the Maison is 35 hectares. Maison also produces a range of wines from purchased certified organic grapes. To date, the Maison Bichot offers a total selection of 47 organic wines. The underlying trend towards organic is confirmed in Burgundy, both in viticulture and in négociant-éleveur (wine merchants and producers), where other houses have already certified their estates as organic: Joseph Drouhin , Boisset for his domaine of the Vougeraie or even the maison Champy.

Christophe TUPINIER

Publishing Director