On Sunday November 20, 2022, the 162nd edition of the Hospices de Beaune auction marked a historic turning point. The total result did not beat, but doubled the previous record.
How do we get so high? At the 162nd Hospices de Beaune auction, Sunday November 20, 2022, the final results defied all predictions, and propelled this charity auction to the rank of the most expensive wine sale of all time.
With 29 million euros collected for 802 pieces (228-litre barrels) of wine, the record set in 2018, at 14 million euros, has been doubled. These funds will go, as is the tradition of the hospital-winemaker, to the Beaune hospital. “The historic and spectacular results of this sale pay tribute to many actors: our winegrowers and our entire team at the estate, our hospital agents who continue their mission with selflessness, our founders and our donors. And to all the Burgundians who defend their land, their traditions but above all their sense of hospitality and fraternity”, declared François Poher, director of the hospices of Beaune, at the end of the event.
Photo DR Clément L’hôte
Another major event this Sunday is the sale of the Presidents’ Coin. A wine a little apart, because its bid does not go to the hospital but to a charity cause, different each year. A sale also eagerly awaited because supported by two “presidents”, public figures responsible for raising the atmosphere and the auction on D-Day. This year, journalist Flavie Flament and actor Benoît Magimel took care of it, brilliantly: 810,000 euros collected for this barrel of corton, which will go to the cause of childhood. The – already impressive – record of 2021 (800,000 euros) has been broken.
A grand cru won by the Louis Latour and Fabrice Drouhin houses (€350,000 each) as well as by a group of Burgundy merchants, who completed the sum. The will of these houses, beyond the support for the charitable cause, was to pay tribute to Louis-Fabrice Latour, Burgundy merchant very appreciated in the middle and died last September, at the age of 58 years.
