iDealwine will be bringing down the hammer at the Hospices de Nuits!

Photo of sign pointing to Domaine des Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges

It’s official! The Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges has named iDealwine as the auctioneer for its annual charity auction. This illustrious event in the wine calendar brings together wine enthusiasts who wish to bid on the Domaine des Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges’ wines. And in 2025, it will take place on Sunday 9 March at Clos de Vougeot in Burgundy – make sure you mark the date in your calendars! World leader in online wine auctions, iDealwine is primed to fulfil the Hospices’ ambition to bring the auction to a global audience and to modernise how the event is organised and run.

Who better than your favourite wine website, who just happens to be the leading French wine auction house* and a leader in online wine auctions, to organise one of France’s most celebrated charitable events? When the existing contract for the Hospices de Nuits was up, iDealwine was delighted to win the new tender following a comprehensive application process

What is the Hospices de Nuits auction?

The annual auction puts the entire most recent vintage produced by Domaine des Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges up for sale. The winery is owned by the Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges medical facility which was founded in 1270 to treat people with leprosy. It later expanded to offering care to local inhabitants which is what is still does today. Less widely known than the Hospices de Beaune, it follows the same idea of being a medical institution that owns vineyards which support its work.

The Domaine des Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges has been built over the years by donations and bequests to now cover 12.4 hectares and its vines are dispersed through the communes of Nuits-St-Georges, Premeaux-Prissey, Vosne-Romanée and Gevrey-Chambertin. Nuits-Saint-Georges wines are crafted from eight village level parcels and nine Premier Crus, and the estate also releases a rare white Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru. It also owns vines in Gevrey-Chambertin. In total, 19 different wines are produced including the Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru ‘Les Didiers’, a plot that is solely owned by the estate. The wide range of wine reflects the mosaic of terroirs from different plots.

The 64th annual Hospices de Nuits wine auction takes place on Sunday 9th March 2025 at Château du Clos de Vougeot. As well as the possibility to take part in the auction at the venue, it will also be possible to bid online or via telephone from any country in the world.

What makes this auction so special?

The wine going under the hammer comes from the most recent harvest which means that next year the 2024 vintage will be up for sale. Having been harvested in September, it will still be going through the maturation process in its 228-litre barrels called a pièce. The entire pièce will be sold as one sole lot and there will be roughly 150 barrels in total. Every year, a charity pièce is auctioned to raise funds for a separate charitable organisation chosen by the organisers.

At the end of the auction, the purchased barrels are entrusted to a Burgundian wine trader/ager where the wine will finish ageing, and it is this company that will take care of the bottling when that time comes around. The winning bidder of a pièce can decide which company they would like to undertake this step. And one of the greatest advantages of this auction is that the person who purchases the barrel can choose which formats (standard bottle, magnum, etc.) and how many of them they would like as well as having their name printed on the label if they so wish.

iDealwine named new auctioneer for Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges

iDealwine, through its subsidiary IWA (a licensed auction house), is the new auctioneer in charge of organising this annual event. The global outreach of the French company was one of the selling points that swayed the auction’s organising body in their choice as they wish to bring the auction to a global audience and modernise how it is run.

Guillaume Koch, Director of the Hospices Civils de Beaune (the organising body of both the Hospices de Nuits and the Hospices de Beaune), said“We are very pleased to partner with iDealwine, which is so well-known for online wine auctions in France and around the world. It is our ambition to grow the Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges’ reputation and iDealwine’s application really stood out to us. As the annual charity auction attracts an ever-increasing number of visitors and results to match, we can continue to showcase the estate’s wines, and the work carried out by the Hospices Civils de Beaune.”

The mayor of Nuits-Saint Georges, Mr Alain Cartron, added that “The Hospices de Nuits auction is always a celebratory moment shared in the town.” He went on to say that “the event should now reach the four corners of the globe, and the new auctioneer was chosen to take us on this adventure.

Cyrille Jomand, licenced auctioneer and CEO of iDealwine, shared his joy in having been chosen to organise the auction. “iDealwine is honoured to join forces with the Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges to host such a major event in the fine wine calendar. We have a particular affinity for the fine wines of Burgundy – that’s what led us to opening an office in Beaune – and we have been avid followers of this charity auction for many years. This is an incredible opportunity for iDealwine to showcase its expertise not only in wine auctions but also in digital marketing deployed on a global scale.

This new partnership aims to continue to grow the auction’s dynamism and reputation as it has done over recent years by reaching an even greater audience of fine wine enthusiasts and collectors from all over the world.

In the next few weeks, we’ll share more information with you about the auction and how you can bid as well as details about the 2024 vintage and the estate. But for now, it’s over to the harvesting team to bring in the grapes.

*Excluding charity auctions