Hospices de Beaune sale 2006

Anthony Hanson MW of Christie’s is determined to drag the annual Hospices de Beaune auction of embryonic burgundy into the 21^st century. This is the second year that the London auction house has run the 146year-old charity auction and this year he has instituted some changes to this historic sale which will take place in Beaune on the afternoon of Sunday Nov 19. All the wines will be available for tasting beforehand.

For the first time in 30 years, five of the lighter of the 41 special Hospices cuvées, donated by long charitable tradition, have been selected to be aged in one year-old rather than new oak. Hanson reports that other improvements have also been designed “to result in significant increases in variety, quality and trueness to origin of both vineyard and vintage, I sincerely believe”.

The catalogue, in English and French, can be found here. 

To be allocated a specially reserved buyer’s seat at the auction contact beaune@christies.com. You will be required to register as a buyer. Or you can bid online via LotFinder at www.christies.com.

Wines – all 2006s, so barely fermented – are sold per pièce (Burgundian barrel) in tranches of various numbers of barrels. (Buying syndicates are common.) Successful bidders have to pay for them to be raised and finished chez a negociant in Burgundy which Christie’s can organise on the buyer’s behalf. The catalogue gives clear details of how all this rather complex process works.

There’s a detailed vintage report from Anthony Hanson in the catalogue in which he explains that sugar levels were good, thanks to a September a good three degrees Celsius higher than average. The vintage may even be excellent for whites, he says, but the reds will be less powerful than the 2005s. The Hospices vineyard manager and winemaker Roland Masse reports that there is no herbaceousness but that he will be vinifying for finesse. Quantities are reduced this year: 680 rather than 789 barrels in 2005. This is partly because such strict selection was needed in this rot-affected year, but also because a policy of rejecting the less successful Hospices parcels of vines has been adopted according to Hanson. He claims that this new process has particularly benefited the following cuvees:

Savigny lès Beaune Premier Cru, Cuvées Forneret & Fouquerand

Pernand Vergelesses Premier Cru, Cuvée Rameau Lamarosse

Beaune Premier Cru, Cuvée Maurice Drouhin

Corton Grand Cru, Cuvée Dr Peste  

The extent to which the notoriously slow bidding process has been speeded up is not disclosed.