Domaine de Bichery

Under the label Domaine de Bichery, Raphaël and Hannah Piconnet are making some of the most sought after Champagne in the world. Raphaël grew up in the Aube, the southernr reaches of Champagne. While most of Champagne was replanting hardier and more resistant clones, Raphaël's grandfather propagated his own massal selection from his vines at Bichery, the small lieu dit where Raphaël was raised. Today, Raphaël still uses the bud wood from his Grandfather’s original vines to plant. Raphaël left the Cotes du Bar to study wine at CFPPA in Beaune and CHANGINS in Nyons and apprenticed at Chateau Pape Clement before returning back home, where he had met Hannah while she was a harvest intern at the family's estate. 2015 was the first year of Domaine de Bichery which coincided with the full conversion to organic farming. Bichery is a part of the Association des Champagnes Biologique, an organization of Certified Organic grower Champagne producers and Des Pieds et des Vins, a group of 15 original grower Champagne producers. Bichery embodies the transformation of Champagne from celebratory fizz into unrivalved site-specific wines that harken back to grand-père's original cuttings while trailblazing the future of Champagne.