Beaune Wine Auction 2023

Registration for the Wine Sale is open to both professionals and private individuals. However, on the day of the sale, only pieces of wine are offered for sale. A piece of wine corresponds to 288 bottles.

Nevertheless, wine lovers can purchase a single bottle, or a few of the Domaine des Hospices de Beaune wines, via the Maison Albert Bichot, for example.

And if you’d like to buy a whole bottle, there are 4 ways to take part in the auction:

• Before the day of the Auction: send your written bid or purchase order to Sotheby’s before the sale. This order will be executed by the auctioneer during the sale. You can contact Sotheby’s for further information, see contacts below.
• Live, at Les Halles de Beaune: reserve your seats with Sotheby’s
• By telephone, you can bid during the Sale with a Sotheby’s contact.
• By Internet, on the Sotheby’s website from your account
• Through a Burgundy wine merchant

For any professional contact regarding the Wine Auction, please contact Sotheby ‘s or one of their representatives:

• Celian Ravel d’Estienne – Director, Head of Auction Sales, France

+33 (0)6 16 52 69 84

celian.raveldestienne@sothebys.com

• Frederic Guyot du Repaire – Deputy Head of Wine, EMEA

+44 20 7293 5047

frederic.guyot@sothebys.com

• Tristan Roznowski – Project Manager, Sotheby’s Wine

+33 (0)6 08 93 62 06

tristan.roznowski@sothebys.com

The Domaine des Hospices de Beaune will be offering tasting sessions for professionals and wine lovers alike.

For wine professionals

Tastings are organized prior to the Wine Sale. They concern the cuvées offered for sale. They take place at the Cuverie du Domaine viticole des Hospices de Beaune, Avenue des Stades, Beaune.

They are reserved for buyers and professionals, and are open on presentation of a personalized invitation sent by the Domaine des Hospices de Beaune.

For amateurs

In Beaune, wine lovers can take part in a tasting of 10 cuvées selected from the reserve wines of the Domaine Viticole des Hospices de Beaune. Reservations are not required for these tastings. Often popular with Beaune locals and wine lovers alike, you’ll need to be patient. They generally take place on Saturday mornings and afternoons, and on Sunday mornings. To find out more, you’ll have to wait until October, when the Domaine des Hospices de Beaune will announce these tastings to the general public.

To receive our special Wine Sale Newsletter, please subscribe to our mailing list.

You can book your tastings directly with the cellars and estates of the Côte de Beaune and Hautes Côtes de Beaune. But the easiest way is still to go through the Tourist Office. You can compare the tasting experiences offered by estates, wine houses and wine merchants in Beaune, Meursault, Pommard, Santenay…

There are two easy ways to book your tastings with the Tourist Office:

• at our reception desks
• on our website (the link will be updated in September 2024)

The Hospices Civils de Beaune owns the Hospices de Beaune wine estate. This is the city of Beaune’s hospital institution, and has been since 1443, when Nicolas Rollin and Guigone de Salins founded the Hôtel-Dieu.

Discover the incredible story of this couple who revolutionized hospital care in Beaune and Burgundy.

In 2022, at the 162nd Hospices de Beaune Wine Auction, all records were broken:

• 32 million Euros (€29,788,500 excluding fees) for all 802 pieces sold. This is not only a record for the Beaune sale, but also a world record for a charity wine auction.
• 810,000 Euros for the charity piece (pièce des présidents), supported by the two presidents: Benoît Magimel and Flavie Flament.

The incredible sum of €810,000 was donated to two associations dedicated to helping children:

• Princesse Margot – association supporting children with cancer and their families
• Vision du Monde – children’s sponsorship association

The charity coin, or Pièce des Présidents, had a very special symbolism for the 162nd edition of the Hospices de Beaune Wine Auction. The death of Louis-Fabrice Latour, Burgundy wine merchant and emblematic figure of Burgundy winegrowing, a month before the sale, particularly moved the Beaune and Pays Beaunois winegrowing community.

To pay tribute to him, Louis Latour and Joseph Drouhin, along with other Burgundy wine houses (Badet Clément, Albert Bichot, Groupe Boisset, Bouchard Père et Fils, Champy, Chanson, Joseph Drouhin, Faiveley, Louis Jadot, Olivier Leflaive, Patriarche and Veuve Ambal), won the auction for the piece of Corton Grand Cru, offered in a barrel specially made by the Maison Latour cooperage.

This outpouring of generosity is in keeping with the tradition of charity that has underpinned the values of the Hospices de Beaune since their creation in 1443.

In 2023, the charity piece was acquired by Mr. Poelaert, owner of Château de Couches, for €350,000.

To enter the “sacrosanct” auction venue, you must first register:

• either via Sotheby’s
• or via a Maison de Bourgogne

Individuals can also register with Sotheby’s to obtain seats if available. A secondary auction room located in the heart of the Hôtel-Dieu, in the Salle des Pôvres, is open to welcome the public registered before the sale.

The show also takes place outside, on the Place de la Halle, where a giant screen is set up in front of the Hôtel-Dieu facade. Every year, hundreds of beaunois and wine-lovers come out to cheer and applaud the buyers.

Sotheby’s and the Domaine des Hospices Civils de Beaune broadcast the sale on their Youtube channel. You can subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest information.

One pièce de vin is equivalent to 228 liters of wine. The 802 pieces of wine were sold for a total of €32 million. This gives an average price of €39,900 per piece, or €175 per liter, or around €131 per bottle. Suffice to say, the “Hospices de Beaune” label is a guarantee of a rare and sought-after product.

The barrels that won the highest bids were pieces of Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru, Cuvée Dames des Flandres. Buyers needed €300,000 to win the auction for the 5 barrels of this exceptional wine. 2023 confirms interest in this extraordinary wine, with price up 14%.

The year 2023 was slightly below the historical records of 2022. The average price for a liter of Burgundy wine, including red and white wines, was “only” €136, or €107 per bottle.