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Albert Bichot between terroir and "merroir"

17/01/2025

Two barrels of Bourgogne Côte d’Or Chardonnay “Secret de Famille”, vintage 2024, set sail on board the cargo ship Grain de Sail II. One of the first wine houses to take the plunge, Albert Bichot ventures into a unique sensory expedition, with mineral and saline notes.

Saint-Malo, Saturday, January 18, 2025 - Firmly moored to the deck, the two 228-liter barrels will cross the Atlantic Ocean to the rhythm of currents and sea variations. With a first stopover in New York, followed by a second in Pointe-à-Pitre, the yacht will sail the Atlantic Ocean for two months before returning to Saint-Malo in early March. For Albert Bichot, the aim of this experiment is to study variations in the evolution of white wines.

Albert Bichot & Grain de Sail, Burgundy (re)sets sail!

This year, Albert Bichot would like to take the transatlantic voyage a step further and study the impact of the sea on the aging of wines, which is a priori accelerated by their exposure to the elements.
Installed on deck, the barrels will be directly exposed to temperature variations, humidity and salty air, as well as to more sudden movements and agitation than in the cellar, allowing for more intense natural stirring of the wine and micro-oxygenation.
To study these phenomena in detail, Albert Bichot called on the services of Onafis. This Nantes-based “Wine Tech” develops connected systems for wine maturation. A probe equipped with more than 7 sensors will evaluate the evolution of the barrels and external conditions in real time. In addition to measuring temperature, dissolved gases, volatile gases and humidity, the probe will enable Matthieu Mangenot, the company's Technical Director, to monitor the evolution of the barrels in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

A journey full of meaning

With this experiment, Albert Bichot aims to return to the transport conditions of the 19th century. This experiment is in line with the company’s commitment to the preservation and enhancement of living organisms, and echoes the support given to the Tara Océan Foundation, which Albéric Bichot accompanied on the Microbiomes Mission to Antarctica. All we have to do now is wait for the sailboat's return to discover the results of this adventure during a comparative tasting: two other barrels of the same wine have been left in the Maison's cellars in Beaune.

“Merroir”, the analog of terroir
Where terroir refers to the unique influence of soil, climate and environment on a wine's characteristics, merroir refers to the influence of water quality, algae, currents and tides, as well as the mineral content of the seabed.

PRESS CONTACT – Pain Vin & Company
Charlotte Pouille - cpouille@painvincompany.com - 01 55 35 81 82