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Challenges of 2024 vintage affect Hospices de Beaune results – but barrel price increases
The world’s oldest wine auction, the Hospices de Beaune sale, raised just under €14 million euros (US$14.7 million) despite the difficult climatic conditions which slashed total yields by a half – but organisers were encouraged by the increase in the price per barrel.
The Hospices de Beaune’s vineyard manager Ludivine Griveau told AFP that the wet weather had slashed the harvest by around 50% – as a result, there were only 449 lots in this year’s sale, comprising 51 cuvées and including 321 red wines and 117 white wines, along with three 114L feullettes (half a pièce or barrel). This compared to the 753 barrels in the 2023 sale.
Overall, the auction, which is held each November, brought an overall total of €14,404,200 ($15,183,722), or an aggregate total of €15.5m ($16.3m), with star power from Hollywood stars including Eva Longoria and Jean Reno, ‘The Crown’s Dominic West and French actress Zabou Breitman, at Sunday’s auction. Unsurprisingly it was down on last year, which raised its second highest total ever, an aggregate total of €25.1million (US$27.4million) – however given the reduction in the number of lots offered, the hammer total of €14.4m remains in line with the €23.3m hammer total last year on a pro-rata basis, the organiser said.
In addition, the top lot in this year’s sale – the ‘Presidents’ Barrel’, which is equivalent to 288 bottles – sold for €360,000. This was further boosted by a contribution from a member of the audience after the hammer came down, which took the total raised for charity this year to €460,000 – an increase of over 30% on the price paid for last year’s piece, a Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru, which sold for €350,000, Sotheby’s said.
Speaking to news agency AFP over the weekend, Guillaume Koch, the director of the Hospices said that while there wouldn’t be an overall [total] record this year, he hoped that they were “not far from setting a new record for the average price per lot sold.”
In a statement after the sale, he said added that the team were very pleased with the results of the sale after a complex year “due to the vagaries of nature, and our first year of organic production”.
“The whites played a particularly important role, with new record prices such as the Bâtard-Montrachet at €355,000. We also had a number of high-quality, highly committed ambassadors who helped to enliven the sale and the weekend,” he said.
The 164th edition of the famous auction, which has been running since 1794, also marked an historic moment being the first fully certified organic vintage produced.
Marie-Anne Ginoux, managing director of Sotheby’s France, also noted the “exceptional” challenges faced by winemaker and her team in producing the first fully certified organic vintage but said that the mission in supporting the Hospices de Beaune was “to spread the word far and wide about what makes these wines so special”, and the charitable causes that are at the heart of the sale.
“We took the wines all over the world and our efforts have been much appreciated by local audiences, many of whom participated in the sale, with bids coming in from Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East. We feel it is important for collectors to discover the uniqueness of these wines and the pleasure they bring, and it is our passion to instil that confidence in them about their potential for the future,” she said.
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