The Hospices Civils de Beaune have appointed Sotheby’s to organise and conduct their annual charity wine auction for the next five years. The 161st edition of the sale will take place at the Halles de Beaune on 21 November 2021.
Held since 1859, the auction is the oldest and most famous charity wine sale in the world. Each year it sets the reference price for the new Burgundy vintage, serving as a benchmark for the wider market. The sale can feature more than 500 lots, and the proceeds fund the upkeep of the Hospices’ heritage buildings and the modernisation of its hospital facilities.
The wines come from a 60-hectare estate in Beaune spanning many of Burgundy’s finest appellations, all of it built up through bequests and donations. The production is sold each year on the third Sunday of November as part of Les Trois Glorieuses, the three-day celebration that draws collectors and visitors to the town.
The Hospices Civils de Beaune trace their origins to 1443, when Nicolas Rolin and Guigone de Salins founded the Hôtel-Dieu as a hospital for the poor. The 15th-century building has not housed patients since the early 1980s, but the institution today groups the hospitals of Beaune, Arnay-le-Duc, Seurre and Nuits-St-Georges.
François Poher, Director of the Hospices Civils de Beaune, said the five-year agreement would help develop knowledge of the estate and its wines for the benefit of all Burgundy. Jamie Ritchie, Worldwide Head of Sotheby’s Wine, said the sale had set prices for each new Burgundy vintage since 1859 and that the house aimed to promote the region’s wines to a growing market. The partnership marks an expansion of Sotheby’s wine sales in France.
(Press Release)
