Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges unveils the line-up for wine auction

The Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges wine auction, now in its 63rd year, has unveiled the line-up for this year’s sale as it aims to “keep the momentum” this year, despite signs that prices have been cooling.  

Jean-Marc Moron, technical manager of the estate described the 2023 vintage as “exceptional in terms of identity, without comparison with its predecessors, which will delight both those in a hurry, and those who have the patience to wait until the wines reach their peak, in ten or twenty years’ time.”

As a result, the wines had “remarkable balance… [and] are typically Burgundian in character”, with “unusually high pH levels”, the estate said, in what were extraordinary climatic conditions. The quantity of grapes was “abundant”, it said and in “superb condition and at perfect maturity”, resulting in 150 barrels or pièces across 19 different cuvées.

For the third year, the charity pièce comprises a unique blend of the estate’s nine Premier Crus across Nuits-Saint-Georges terroir, the “Cuvée des Bienfaiteurs”, a wine of “finesse and elegance, with rich, deep aromas and a dense texture, prolonged by a long finish”, the estate said.

It is also offering the second vintage of the Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru Les Saint-Georges “Sélection de Vieilles Vignes”, Cuvée Hugues Perdrizet, which was named after the man who donated the first vines to the Domaine des Hospices de Nuits back and made from some of the estate’s oldest vines on the Saint-Georges parcel. The wine “promises to be an all-time great for those with the patience to wait”, it said, meriting from several years’ cellaring.

The organisers are hopeful for a strong year, following totals of €3,603,000 last year. It pointed out that in four years, the totals raised have risen by 123%, “with consistent and continued growth each year”, with the 2023 the Charity Pièce, the “Cuvée des Bienfaiteurs” raising a record €64,580 for charity Les Blouses Roses, while the average price per pièce has more than doubled during the same period (from €9,728 in 2019 to €22,519 in 2023). However, as noted by db last year, the annual sale has increasingly acted as a barometer of trends for high-end Burgundy, with signs that prices were beginning to cool after several years of increases. For example, although up over a four year period, the average price paid per pièce in 2023 year was down 1.27% on the 2022 average, a slowdown in the “spectacular dynamic” seen between 2020 and 2022, when the average barrel price rose 72%. Although part of this was due to the abundance of the 2022 harvest, –  160 barrels compared to 109 in 2022 – Liv-ex has already reported a softening in the market for high-end Burgundy since the peak in October 2022.

The Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges was founded in 1270, and like its more famous, but younger neighbour, the Hospices de Beaune (founded in 1443), combines a medical charity with its prestigious wine estate. The vineyards were originally donated to the Hospice during the 17th century, and now comprises nearly 13ha, the majority of which lie within the limits of Nuits-St-Georges, although there are some vineyards in the village of Gevrey Chambertin.

Until 2021, the auction was only open to trade buyers only but in 2021 it was opened up to private collectors, as part of revamp following its acquisition in 2017 by Laurent Delaunay, who bought back the family business after it was sold to Boisset in 1993. It followed auctioneer Hugues Cortot and wine expert Aymeric de Clouet taking charge of the sale, bringing live internet streaming, and the auctioning of each barrel or pièce as a lot, as well as the creation of the special cuvées to attract more buyers.

The 63rd edition of the Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges Wine Auction is being held on Sunday 10 March at the Château du Clos de Vougeot, and will streamed live.