“The Hospices de Beaune wine auction is the story of an historic sale and a common cause”
The Hospices Civils de Beaune will hold its 162nd wine auction on Sunday, 20 November 2022, with Sotheby's, the world's leading wine auctioneer. The 60-hectare estate, in its se-cond year of organic conversion, will auction this year’s vintage to raise funds for major charitable investments. On this occasion, a so-called "charity piece" will be sold for the be-nefit of two associations dedicated to children’s causes.
Alain Suguenot, Mayor of Beaune and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Hospices Civils de Beaune
The 162nd Hospices de Beaune wine sale promises to be a major event, with exceptional wines thanks to a generous year.
In 2022, the funds will benefit children’s causes and two associations in particular: firstly, Princesse Margot, created in 2012 by Muriel Hattab, whose mission is to support children with cancer and help their families through the ordeal engendered by the disease. The project to be carried out by the association with the profits from the sale of the charity piece is entitled "La maison des Pa-rents" and is an extension of its mission to support young patients and their families.
In order to remain close to their sick child, hospitalised for long periods of time, Princesse Margot has decided to offer temporary accommodation to families.
Vision du Monde, the second association selected, has a presence wherever children suffer, in more than 100 countries.
Its mission is to help the most vulnerable children, to lift them out of extreme poverty and give them the means to live their lives to the full. Thanks to the very generous contribution brought by the sale of the ‘charity coin’, World Vision wishes to invest in one of its priority projects, developed in Kenya. The project, "Kenya Big Dream", aims to fight against genital mutilation and child marriage in order to allow each little girl and boy to realise their dreams and potential.
François Poher, Director and Chairman of the Board of Hospices Civils de Beaune
This year, and particularly during this difficult period, the vine has taught us a beautiful lesson. It has proved to us that by having depths of resolve and a great capacity to adapt, we are capable of bearing up and delivering our best.
There are two ways of operating and working at Hospices de Beaune. The first is to separate the management of a magnificent historic monument, the management of the wine estate and finally the management of a hospital and the nursing homes. I prefer the second, which draws resources, ideas and reference points for the whole institution from each of our activities. This is the case this year, which is centred around health, the environment and the theme of childhood. All this is linked. Hospitality is important to us and we will continue on this path into 2023, when it will be the main theme of the cultural programme of the Hôtel Dieu. But we also want to implement a resolutely more human touch - at the hospital reception, on the telephone, in the departments and in the emergency room, which will be completely modified by March 2023.
All of this and the reconstruction of the hospital are made possible by the forthcoming sale of the wines.
Then there is the environment, since the winery has committed to organic conversion. Why is this? Because we are a hospital and we take care of the health of those who work in the vineyards, those who live around the vineyards and the health of our consumers.
Finally, the theme of children will be supported this year by two associations. Children’s causes are close to our hearts - our pediatric department has seen double the number of cases of psychologi-cal disorders in children and adolescents as a result of the health crisis.
Thank you for your commitment to this beautiful institution, which every day mobilises to powerful effect, at the service of the population, the economy and the tourist industry of our region.
Ludivine Griveau, Manager of the Hospices de Beaune wine estate
This year, two themes are important, and both are reflective of the Hospices de Beaune wine es-tate today: the journey towards organic conversion, now in its second year, and the exceptional 2022 vintage.
The second year on the road to organic conversion
The organic conversion process is a philosophy that was already very much anchored in our prac-tice, since my predecessor had already initiated the process on part of the estate, by limiting the use of synthetic chemicals.
Ever since 2017, we decided to stop using synthetic chemicals. We have chosen to undergo a complete conversion of the estate, across all 60 hectares, with the full commitment of our twenty-three winemakers and cellar staff.
We all share a common ethic of care, with the devotion of hospital staff at the forefront of our minds, and are doubly motivated to strike a respectful balance between health and the environ-ment.
To embark on an organic conversion requires time, observation and the adaptation of our farming methods. In order to manage 60 hectares organically, we need to unite the winegrowers, work clo-
sely alongside these vineyard technicians, adapt our cultivation methods and ensure that we have efficient equipment. The vineyard is now in its second year of organic conversion in order to obtain the organic label for the Hospices de Beaune wines, for when they leave the winery in 2024.
To convert 60 hectares, the vineyard had to be adapted, different preventative measures had to be adopted as part of a complete programme and lastly, it had to be accepted that this process would take time.
Organic farming is characterised by the use of copper and sulphur compounds, which require ef-fective spraying tools for the treatments. The decision making process was three-fold: putting each treatment in context, with special consideration of the weather conditions, analysing the risk of di-sease and adapting the dose. “These three essential concepts are applicable in many other situa-tions in life, so it is quite simple to implement them in an organic conversion process”, Ludivine points out.
A 2022 vintage that is a sight to behold!
The 2022 vintage is characterised by a mild climate. We had a perfect start to the season in terms of rainfall. Despite a big scare with the April frost, the spring was typically wet and the summer was dry and hot with some rain.
The bud-burst came early, with very generous fruit, and as this followed the previous year’s very poor yield, the sight of a bountiful harvest was good news indeed.
From the beginning of the season the vines were in good shape and the flowering took place under perfect conditions. “We were afraid of drought, but the vines were ready to produce. So it pushed us to the limit in terms of decisions to regulate yields for the sake of quality.
The harvest was generous and healthy. It started on 25 August in Pouilly-Fuissé, then on 29 Au-gust in the Côte d'Or and ended on 16 September in Saint-Romain. A historically long harvest!
The whites are currently finishing their fermentation. They are dense and present a beautiful ba-lance, notably in acidity. “A real textbook case”, according to Ludivine.
For the reds, 46 vats are currently filled, with maceration planned for three weeks.
The devatting of the reds has begun and some of them are characterised by an elegant sweet-ness, fruitiness and roundness, while others are characterised by strength and substance.
For the whites, there are beautiful lees with fruit, richness and balance.
“It’s a delight to have full vats and a winery that is buzzing with activity”, concludes Ludivine.
Amayès Aouli, Director of wine department for Continental Europe, Sotheby’s
« This is a honour for us, as we’re absolutely delighted to be working with the Hospices de Beaune for the second time in organising this year’s auction.
The region of Burgundy has always been important to Sotheby’s, but never more so than over the course of the past year. It feels essential to us to support, however humbly, Burgundy – both its terroir and the communities that make it such a magical place.
We are fully invested in our long-term success here. So far this year we have partnered with the Clos de Vougeot and the Fondation du Patrimoine, to host a charity wine auction to benefit the res-toration of the Cîteaux Abbey in the heart of Burgundy, which totalled almost €800,000. More re-cently in June, we helped raised funds for the Musique & Vins festival to benefit talented young musicians.
Overall, demand for Burgundy has been steadily increasing, a surge that was borne out in 2021 when our annual auction sales of wines and spirits reached a record total of $132 million, with Bur-gundy accounting for almost half of that figure.
During that time, our 31 specialists based around the world worked together to stage 53 sales, and it was a real privilege for us all to combine our forces to work on this truly unique auction.
Our partnership with the Hospices de Beaune stands at the pinnacle of the development of our wine department which was founded more than 50 years ago and whose European branch was created in 2021.
In developing our wine business in Continental Europe, we have made Beaune a key centre of our operations. It is from our base here that we have put together nine auctions, four of which had a philanthropic purpose.
This proximity with the domaines in the region has been of huge benefit to our sales. Including both our inaugural auction last November and the 161st Hospices de Beaune auction, they have brought a combined total of more than $22 million.
As I’m sure you remember, last year’s sale saw the smallest number of lots offered since 1977, but the small size of the vintage was no impediment to enthusiastic bidding from collectors. Those 352 lots achieved an average increase of 85% per cuvée, demonstrating a record demand for red and white Burgundy. It was a strong team effort too as 50 colleagues, including one third of Sotheby’s French work force, played their part to ensure the auction was successful.
We brought the full force of our owner’s sister companies and equipped the Great Hall de Beaune with high speed fibre. We had 700 attendees in the room, attracted some 200 clients, and saw bid-ding from close to 150 collectors across Europe, Asia and the Americas. We had a peak audience of 2 million watching the live feed on BFM TV, and the sale generated around 350 articles in the media.
The annual auction is of course by now a well-oiled machine but what we have done, and will continue to do, is bring new clients to Beaune and shine a spotlight on the region, and work toge-ther with the négociants and winemakers in Burgundy to continue learning from them and ultimate-ly to raise important funds.
We now look ahead with great anticipation to the 162nd Hospices de Beaune wine sale.
Our schedule this year in the run up to the sale in November is just as ambitious as last year, if not more so. Prior to the auction, we will host 20 tastings and dinners in cities all over the world, from Taipei and Mexico, to Stockholm and Singapore. In addition, we will use the new ground we have broken with our digital innovations to reach an expanded global audience and which we hope, in turn, will bring in new collectors.
The focus of our in-person events is to engage committed wine collectors and give them the oppor-tunity to hear the story and taste the wines produced by this unique institution. The emphasis will most definitely be put on the excellence of the wines produced by Ludivine and her team, and a discussion around the wonderful 2022 vintage.
Since arriving in 2015, Ludivine has transformed both winemaking and viticulture, with spectacular results. And now that the domaine is in the process of converting to organic, the sky's the limit for what Ludivine can achieve in the coming years. We’re very excited and honoured to be part of this journey. Merci beaucoup."
Source: BIVB
