156th Hospices de Beaune Wine Auction

The Pièce des Présidents of the 2016 harvest comes from the Corton Bressandes Grand Cru appellation and will be absolutely “UNIQUE” from every point of view!

©Christie’s / Hospices de Beaune

“The Hospices Civils de Beaune are going through a period of great sadness brought about by the sudden disappearance of their director, Mr Antoine Jacquet.

Mr Jacquet dedicated 28 years of his professional life to this atypical establishment where he was capable of both managing the evolution and modernisation of the hospital and also its historical and viticultural heritage. The wine domain, the historic museum and the hospital activities have always been in great interaction. Successive earnings from the wine auctions have allowed the Hospices Civils de Beaune to offer themselves modern equipment adapted to each stage of their historical development.

The latest work in progress, where Antoine Jacquet was at pains to ensure that all went well, is the restructuring and enlargement of the Hospital Centre. Work on this began in 2014.

While the festivities linked to the Wine Auction on 20th November 2016 will be unchanged, everyone present will spare a thought for the man who presided over the destiny of this institution of which he was so proud.” (Bernadette Aune)

The 2016 Bourgogne vintage by J. Morris

Jasper Morris, Master of Wine and Christie’s Wine consultant, offers his first impressions about the 2016 vintage.

« The first half of the growing season was the most difficult in living memory, the second half as close to perfect as anybody could have hope for. Despondent faces at the end of June displayed relief by the end of September. The old expression ‘juin fait la quantité, septembre fait la qualité’ was never truer.

There were hailstorms in the Mâconnais, though the Hospices de Beaune’s cuvée of Pouilly- Fuissé was spared, and in Chablis but the Côte d’Or was largely spared from this scourge. However the morning of 27th April changed everything. A cloudless night caused temperatures to drop below freezing, not by much, but the effect was more like a winter freeze than a spring frost. A huge swathe of vineyard was affected including many famous vineyards in the Côte de Nuits while the Côte de Beaune bore the worst of it, especially Savigny-lès-Beaune and parts of Pommard, Beaune and Meursault.

Erratic weather conditions in the weeks that followed prevented the vines from setting a second crop where the first had been destroyed. There was also severe pressure from mildew but vigilant work from the Hospices’ team of growers prevented any significant damage.

Finally, on Wednesday 22nd June came the first signs of summer with bright blue skies and real heat. From late July, throughout August and into September the weather was glorious, with a succession of golden sunny days as an Atlantic high protected France. Every so often the high gave way long enough to allow a day or two of cooler rainier weather, providing much needed sustenance, but in general conditions were hot, clear and sunny without much humidity.

The reds were more advanced than the whites, the vines themselves looked in fine condition but there were pitifully few bunches to be seen. The continuous sunshine enabled the grapes to ripen beautifully, for the uneven maturity to begin to some together, and to prevent disease.

The exceptional late summer weather continued through until some heavy rain overnight 14th/15th September and some showers over the next few days, welcome rain on the whole to relieve the vines which were starting to suffer from hydric stress and to reinvigorate the ripening process. Picking started, earlier than originally expected, at the Hospices on Monday 19th September for the Pouilly-Fuissé after which the reds came through steadily over the next 8 days, culminating in Clos de la Roche on Tuesday 27th. Attention then turned to bringing in the white wines by the end of the week, the whole crop being harvested in excellent weather.

Though the teams on the sorting tables were ready for action, the grapes were mostly very healthy with the correct balance between sugar levels and acidity.

The aromas emerging from the fermenting vats were pure and refined, and all seems set fair to make some excellent wines in 2016, but sadly in very small volumes for certain vineyards. The red wines were fermented for about two weeks, to preserve their elegance. » (Jasper Morris, Master of Wine and Christie’s Wine consultant)

The 2016 Bourgogne vintage by L. Griveau

Ludivine Griveau, enjoying her second vintage as regisseur/oenologue at the Hospices de Beaune, pronounced the wines as they were brought out of their fermentation tanks as ‘bien dans leur peau’ (feeling good in themselves). 

« They have good colour, plenty of fruit and lots of flavour. There are no aggressive tannins, so they seem full bodied but silky, just like in 2010. 

The whites are currently fermenting, having been picked with correct sugar levels, balanced by adequate acidity. Pure and supple whites are expected. Overall the mood is one of considerable relief after the difficult start to the year, indeed a sense of optimism for the brand new vintage. » (Ludivine Griveau, régisseur of the Domaine des Hospices de Beaune)

The Presidents of the 2016 wine sale and their charities

Since 1945, every year the Hospices de Beaune have lent their support to one or more charities by donating the proceeds from one barrel of wine, called a pièce in Burgundy, sold especially for that purpose, the Pièce des Présidents. For this 156th Sale the Pièce des Présidents will be a 228 liters barrel of Corton Bressandes Grand Cru: Cuvée des Présidents.

A unique cuvée ! The Pièce des Présidents of the 2016 harvest comes from the Corton Bressandes Grand Cru appellation and will be absolutely UNIQUE from every point of view!

This 2016 Wine Auction will be under the Presidency of Virginie Ledoyen, Khatia Buniatishvili, Valérie Bonneton, Claude Lelouche and Eddy Mitchell.

The two associations chosen this year are the foundation Coeur et Recherches, developing research in the field of cardiovascular diseases and the ARC foundation, for cancer research.

In 2015, thanks to the exceptional vintage and the generosity of the buyers, the sale achieves €11,347,609 (£8,011,412 / $12,175,984). The Charity Barrel « Pièce des Présidents » was sold at a generous French benefactor for €480,000. Record to beat !

Listing of the 48 Cuvées of the Hospices de Beaune

The 2016 crop will be offering 48 cuvées at the wine auction (33 of red and 15 of white). The cuvées are either from single vineyards, or are judicious assemblings of grapes from different vineyard plots. This blending of wines is one of the originalities of the Domaine des Hospices de Beaune, creating some special wines which are unique to the Domaine. Each cuvée is named after an important donor or benefactor of the Hospices de Beaune

33 Cuvée of red wine:

• Auxey-Duresses Premier Cru – Les Duresses – Cuvée Boillot
• Beaune Premier Cru – Cuvée Brunet
• Beaune Premier Cru – Clos des Avaux
• Beaune Premier Cru – Cuvée Cyrot Chaudron
• Beaune Premier Cru – Cuvée Dames Hospitalières
• Beaune Premier Cru – Cuvée Guigone de Salins
• Beaune Premier Cru – Cuvée Hugues et Louis Betault
• Beaune Premier Cru – Cuvée Maurice Drouhin
• Beaune Premier Cru – Cuvée Nicolas Rolin
• Beaune Premier Cru – Cuvée Rousseau Deslandes
• Beaune Premier Cru – Les Grèves – Cuvée Pierre Floquet
• Clos de la Roche Grand Cru – Cuvée Cyrot Chaudron
• Clos de la Roche Grand Cru – Cuvée Georges Kritter
• Corton Grand Cru – Cuvée Charlotte Dumay
• Corton Grand Cru – Clos du Roi – Cuvée Baronne du Bay
• Corton Grand Cru – Cuvée Docteur Peste
• Echezeaux Grand Cru – Cuvée Jean-Luc Bissey
• Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru – Cuvée Madeleine Collignon
• Monthelie Premier Cru – Les Duresses – Cuvée Lebelin
• Pernand-Vergelesses Premier Cru – Les Vergelesses – Cuvée Rameau Lamarosse
• Pommard – Cuvée Billardet
• Pommard Premier Cru – Cuvée Dames de la Charité
• Pommard – Cuvée Raymond Cyrot
• Pommard – Cuvée Suzanne Chaudron
• Pommard Premier Cru – Les Epenots – Cuvée Dom Gobelet
• Santenay – Cuvée Chistine Friedberg
• Savigny-Les-Beaune Premier Cru – Cuvée Arthur Girard
• Savigny-Les-Beaune Premier Cru – Les Vergelesses – Cuvée Forneret
• Savigny-Les-Beaune Premier Cru – Cuvée Fouquerand
• Volnay Premier Cru – Cuvée Blondeau
• Volnay Premier Cru – Cuvée General Muteau
• Volnay Premier Cru – Les Santenots – Cuvée Gauvain
• Volnay Premier Cru – Les Santenots – Cuvée Jehan de Massol

15 Cuvées of white wine:

• Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru – Cuvée Dames de Flandres
• Beaune Blanc Premier Cru – Les Montrevenots – Cuvée Suzanne et Raymond
• Chablis Premier Cru Côte de Lechet – Cuvée Jean-Marc Brocard
• Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru – Cuvée François de Salins
• Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru – Cuvée du Roi Soleil
• Corton-Vergennes Grand Cru – Cuvée Paul Chanson
• Meursault Premier Cru – Les Charmes – Cuvée Albert Griveau
• Meursault Premier Cru – Les Charmes – Cuvée de Bahezre de Lanlay
• Meursault Premier Cru – Les Genévrières – Cuvée Baudot
• Meursault Premier Cru – Les Genévrières – Cuvée Philippe Le Bon
• Meursault Premier Cru – Les Porusots – Cuvée Jehan Humblot
• Meursault – Cuvée Goureau
• Meursault – Cuvée Loppin
• Pouilly-Fuissé – Cuvée Françoise Poisard
• Saint-Romain Blanc – Cuvée Joseph Menault