2017 Albert Bichot Hautes-Cotes de Nuits Les Dames Huguettes Bourgogne 750 ml

Albert Bichot is one of our go-to Burgundy producers for one simple reason: their quality-to-price ratio. When we first discovered the estate over a decade ago, we drove up and down Burgundy on repeat, visiting their vineyards and securing as much wine from the lauded estate as we could. Their bottles represent the pinnacle of value and pedigree… often for less than the cost of a good steak.

Today, Bichot is still delivering the Burgundies we reach for every night, and they have become a perennial Wine Access member-favorite producer for the same reason we fell in love with the crimson, delicate 2017 Hautes-Côtes de Nuits Les Dames Huguettes Bourgogne: This Bichot over-delivers on every possible metric.

We’re thrilled to be the exclusive retailer of this wine in the United States, the reason we’re able to offer this shimmering Pinot for just $25 a bottle. This is the type of wine normally served at Beaune bistros, brought directly to your door without the mark-up because of our longstanding relationship with Albéric Bichot, the sixth-generation leader of the Domaine.

The 2017 Hautes-Côtes de Nuits Les Dames Huguettes is labeled simply “Bourgogne Rouge,” but it's built from a single site like a Premier Cru Pinot Noir that should command twice the price. A single inhale exposed a bounty of just-picked red fruit—strawberry, raspberry, cherry coulis—before revealing intricacies of aromatic dried herbs like rosemary, thyme, and sage. Hints of dry turned earth followed as our brains rushed to keep up with the wine’s unfolding complexities. Without taking a sip of this medium-bodied, silken, and absolutely classic Burgundy, we were already coordinating getting this from Beaune to the Port of New York as fast as possible.  

Les Dames Huguettes demonstrates precisely how the storied terroir of tucked-away sites, harnessed to their greatest potential through Bichot’s winegrowing and winemaking techniques, make for some of the greatest value-driven gems in Burgundy. 

We caught ourselves refreshing the shipping updates hourly, and decided we couldn’t wait to share this wine—it quite literally reached our shores yesterday. Perfectly balanced for early fall tables laden with wild mushrooms, slow-simmered bolognese from the season’s last tomatoes, and even Thanksgiving’s annual mélange of flavors, we suggest stockpiling this wine at $25 per bottle, while it lasts. 

Grown on the top of the hill above the vineyards of Burgundy’s famed village of Nuits-St. Georges, this Bichot single-vineyard steal is also an excellent example of the region and near-perfect 2017 vintage. The calcareous clay plateau rises over 1,000 feet above sea level, where the grapes are planted with the best exposure to sunlight, facing south and east to maximize both the distinct minerality as well as the fruit generosity of this unique vineyard.

The Bichot family has lived in Burgundy since the 14th century, and has been making outstanding wines there since 1831. This long tenure gives them access to the region’s best vineyard sources like this Les Dames Huguettes parcel, and they’re able to share those wines at incredible prices. The Bichots own their land, so their costs (and our prices) don’t fluctuate season-to-season.

Wonderfully, the current generation refuses to rest on family laurels. Albéric introduced organic viticulture in the family’s Côte d’Or vineyards, and continues to push the envelope on quality—efforts that are impressively palpable even in even Bichot’s value bottlings

Les Dames Huguettes has all the depth and complexity of great Côtes de Nuits with none of the associated costs. We can’t wait to pair this with everything this season.