CELLAR ACCESS - FEBRUARY!!

Name: 2022 Domaine de Bichery, La Source
Brand: Domaine de Bichery
SKU: Of-34185960
Price: 65.0 USD
Availability: InStock

Jan 30, 2026by Peter Njoroge

Cheers! Dry January is finally over and we’re back with another month of delicious bottles headed your way. For those thawing from Winter Storm Fern, we’re hoping to send over some liquid sunshine from California. We hope these bottles will help keep you satiated as we power through the last few months of winter.

This month, we have a bottle of Champagne from one of the Aube department’s brightest stars, Raphael Piconnet at Domaine de Bichery. There’s also a delicious bottle of Chablis from one of our absolute favorite (and still underrated) young couples, Eleni & Edouard Vocoret. Lastly, we have a vibrant and aromatic Barbera d'Alba from Stefano Occhetti’s latest release.

After extensive studies at prestigious winemaking institutions in Beaune and Switzerland and a gig at Chateau Pape Clement, Raphael Piconnet decided he’d be better off making wine like his grandfather, who spent his life rejecting the modern shortcuts of the 20th century. In 2013, he returned with his wife to the Aube to take over the family winery, where they’ve become one of the finest practitioners of low-intervention winemaking in Champagne.

Domaine de Bichery

The Piconnet family has tended vines in the Cote des Bar for three generations, dating back to Raphael’s grandfather, Charles, a dedicated farmer who ultimately sold his grapes to the local cooperative. Charles Piconnet chose a life in his vineyards, faithfully replanting from his own massale selections while his neighbors often reached for more productive clones.

Despite the family history, the story of Domaine de Bichery starts in 2013 when Raphael returned from his formal studies in Beaune and Switzerland. Tremendously inspired by the work and life of his grandfather, Raphael began converting the family’s entire production to organics. They achieved Ecocert certification in 2019 and are currently members of the Association des Champagnes Biologiques, where they are joined by a like-minded group of progressive wineries in Champagne (names like Charles Dufour, Amaury Beaufort, and Georges Laval).

Work in the cellar is decidedly hands-off, with some cuvees being vinified entirely without sulfur. The domaine is 8.5 hectares large, spread across 10 separate parcels, some of which are vinified into single-vineyard bottlings. Each wine is from a single vintage, something Raphael sees as a great challenge—starting fresh each year. Additionally, everything at Bichery is bottled Brut Nature.

2022 Domaine de Bichery, La Source

Bay Area

Available same day if ordered by 2pm

25811 Clawiter Road
Hayward CA 94545
United States

+14152340046

Brentwood LA

Available same day if ordered by 2pm

11718 San Vicente Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049
United States

+14152340046

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This wine has a per person limit. We do this as the wine is hard to find, very rare and/or incredibly sought after.

We do this to ensure that we are able to share the love with everyone!

We kindly ask that you do not abuse this limit by placing multiple orders. In the event that you place multiple orders - they will be canceled and subject to a 5% cancellation fee.

If you would like to request more than the allowable amount - we may be able to help - send us an email at info@thatcherswineconsulting.com

2021 Eleni & Edouard Vocoret, Chablis, Le Bas de Chapelot

The fruit for this wine comes from the 3.2-hectare Bas de Chapelot lieu-dit, just below the Premier Cru Montee de Tonerre. The soil here is deep clay-limestone and Kimmeridgian. The vines are around 40 years old. The approach to winemaking is the same here as across the other wines. Both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation are done in stainless steel with indigenous (cellar) yeast. The wine ages for one year in old barrels and is then bottled with no fining or filtration, with minimum yeast additions.

Historically, Bas de Chapelot has been overlooked for Premier Cru status, but I think the quality of the Vocoret wine makes a good case for the vineyard’s inclusion. The wine is your quintessential, though a bit riper, Chablis. That is to say; the wine strikes a perfect tight-rope balance between the ample richness of the perfectly ripe fruit and the acidity and minerality that is the signature of the cold northern region.

In-the-know lovers of elegant, age-worthy Chablis are snapping up the delicious wine being released by Eleni and Edouard Vocoret. After meeting at a work placement in New Zealand, the couple returned to Chablis to run a small portion of Edouard’s family estate to great success. While originally focused on lieu-dit bottlings at the village level, they've since added 5 hectares, including several iconic premier cru and grand cru parcels.

Eleni & Edouard Vocoret

The Vocoret name has been dominant within Chablis dating back to the mid-19th century when Edouard's family first planted vines in the region. Edouard's historic family domaine now oversees 50 hectares of vines. His passion ignited by working harvest in New Zealand, where he and Eleni met, spurred the duo on to acquire 5 hectares of vines from the Vocoret family domaine, and set out on their own.

Edouard had set his eye on a couple of choice parcels in the Chablis Village level vineyards, such as the Bas de Chapelot, a lieu-dit positioned perfectly just beneath Montée de Tonnerre. The first mission for the younger Vocorets: elevate the farming, creating healthier fruit with sustainable and biodynamic methods.

In addition to Bas de Chapelot, Eleni & Edouard also produce from tiny plots of Les Pargues, Boucheran and Butteaux. Bas de Chapelot is situated in such a spot that creates great complexity, coming from 40-year-old vines deep clay & limestone soils mixed with the classic Chablisienne Kimmeridgian.

"The balance of fruit ,acid, texture and length this wine offers is nothing short of dazzling. I found myself wanting to drink the entire bottle with reckless abandon," While the couple has been mentored by Vincent Dauvissat, the wines do reflect classic minerals but genuinely do have a special intensity and density. "This wine has a bit of an unctuous quality that would pair brilliantly with sushi in my humble opinion."

2021 Eleni & Edouard Vocoret, Chablis, Le Bas de Chapelot