The 58th Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges auctions took place last Sunday 18th March, with a rather disappointing result of total sales down 15%. 1,475,300 euros were collected for 152 lots sold, a 15.7% decrease when compared to last year (1,750 millions).
For the first time in seven years, sales of Nuits-Saint-Georges wines didn’t beat the record set by the previous year and even saw a decrease of more than 15%. The charity lot, however, went for more than 42,000 euros, 6,000 euros more than that of last year. Despite that, many cuvées fell short of the price set last year. The tone was set right from the beginning, with the auction’s first cuvée (three barrels of Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Les Murgers cuvée Guyard de Changey) selling for €13,000, compared to €15,200 in 2018. The average price thus decreased by 20.69%.
Former swimmer Camille Lacourt presided this auction which was held by candlelight; he was accompanied by his partner Alice Detollenaere, Miss Burgundy 2010. The charity l’Arche collected the sum of the charity barrel. While some lots elicited many buyers’ interest, others simply did not find a taker, forcing the auctioneer to remove two lots from the sale.
The director of Domaine des Hospices, Jean-Marc Moron didn’t hide his disappointment as regards the results, as well as the auctioneer and the mayor of Nuits-Saint-Georges, who had in spite of everything attempted to stir auction-goers’ interest, saying: “It’s a little lackluster here, can someone get me a coffee. The hospital needs your help, please”.
The auction results are in striking contrast with those of the Hospices de Beaune auctions which were held last November, reaching a new record of €14.2M.
