The Hospices de Beaune 2024 charity wine auction took place on Sunday 17 November, offering the estate’s production from this year’s 2024 vintage for sale. With a much reduced volume of wine for sale (-41%) and relatively stable hammer prices (+2.5%), the auction – whose tally was almost €14m – reflected the current state of the market. Given the current complicated context, it is fair to say the auction was a success.
The 164th edition of the world’s oldest charity auction took place on Sunday 17 November, in the Halles de Beaune. The famous charity auction featured wines from the 2024 vintage.
The auction’s purpose is to raise funds for Beaune’s public hospital, Les Hospices Civils de Beaune, with one exception – the sale of the Pièce de charité charity barrel, whose proceeds are used to fund another cause, which changes every year. This year, the proceeds went to two charities – Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) and the Global Gift Foundation.
The entire production of the Hospice de Beaune estate is auctioned off in the sale, in 228-litre barrels, known as pièces (a pièce is equivalent to 288 750ml bottles). As the wines are still in their infancy, bidders must select a winemaker or wine merchant to mature the wine they buy and then wait quite some time before obtaining their purchased lot bottled. The biggest bidders at this sale are Burgundy wine merchants themselves.
Hospices de Beaune 2024 Auction: Key Figures
- 446.5 barrels offered and sold, against 753 in 2023 (-41%)
- Total sales of €13,909,000, against €23m in 2023 (-40%)
- Average price per barrel = €31,540 (+2.5%), i.e. around €110 per bottle (not including ancillary costs)
- Average price for whites up 8%
- Average price for reds down 5%
- €360,000 was paid for the charity barrel, a Beaune Premier Cru Les Bressandes (in 2023, a different wine fetched €350,000)
- €355,000 was the record amount obtained by a Bâtard-Montrachet barrel.
The Hospices de Beaune 2024 vintage
As you will have gathered, 2024 was a year of low yields for the Hospices de Beaune estate, as it was for many others. Excessive rainfall led to heavy pressure from downy mildew and powdery mildew, which severely shrank the harvest. Production volume (446.5 barrels) fell sharply, by almost 41%.
In any event, 2024 is the Hospice’s first certified organic vintage. And while it is still very early to judge the quality of the vintage, it would appear to be very satisfying.
Relive the events of the 164th Hospices de Beaune auction with us
The auction got off to a gentle start, with the Beaunes and Pommards going for conservative prices. The excitement then picked up with the auction of the Grands Crus and whites, which went on until 8.45pm at night. White wines were a notable success, with average price up by 8%.
For some cuvées available in several barrels, the price difference was as much as 30,000 euros between lots of identical wine!
A fine result for the charity barrel
For this 2024 edition, the sponsors of the charity barrel sale were the actors Eva Longoria, Dominic West, Jean Reno and Zabou Breitman. As well as promoting the two chosen charities – to which the proceeds from the sale of this barrel will go – it was their job to run the auction and do everything they could to drive up the price. The least one can say is that they gave this task their all! Dominic West, alias King Charles III in the series The Crown, even put in a bid himself, and each of the celebrities threw offers into the bargain to up the bidding. Eva Longoria, for example, offered to drink the first bottle from the lot with the winning bidder, while Dominic West offered to take off his shirt!
The Pièce de charité charity barrel, which this year was a Beaune Premier Cru rather than a Grand Cru, fetched the magnificent sum of €360,000. An additional €100,000 was donated to the charities, live in the room, by another bidder, Francine Picard, who was particularly moved by the causes of the two charitable organisations. The charity barrel was bought by a Brazilian bidder, Alaor Pereira Lino.
All in all, although this year’s Hospice auction didn’t net a record amount, which was entirely to be expected given the quantities produced, it still recorded the auction’s fourth highest total sales, behind 2022, 2023 and 2020. While tricky winegrowing years – affected by disease and so on – often acquire a bad name for no reason, these stable results, with no drop in average price, are a positive indicator for the market and the vintage. Moreover, at a time when the prices of Burgundy greats have been surpassing records and remaining high , this price stability is more than welcome and sends out a positive signal of market balance. In conclusion, even if one could have hoped for even greater proceeds to support the Hospices de Beaune, the auction’s €14 million tally and almost stable average price are probably the best things that could have happened for the Burgundy wine world, with this auction proving to be particularly resilient given the complicated global economic context.
