Bidders gathered in Château du Clos de Vougeot to witness the grand auction organized by auctioneer Hugues Cortot and wine connoisseur Aymeric de Clouet.
The auction saw a total of 150 lots, covering 19 diverse cuvées, including the prestigious Cuvée des Bienfaiteurs.
At the culmination of the event, it was announced by Nuits-Saint-Georges Mayor Alain Cartron that the auction raised a significant sum of €2,281,500.
Even though this sum marked a 36% decrease from the previous year’s Hospices de Nuits charity auction which broke records by raising €3.6m, it stands as the second-highest total in the 63-year history of the auction.
The historic Domaine des Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges, a hospital and wine-growing estate founded in 1270, is always a feature at the auction.
Sunday’s event saw the auction of the highly-rated 2023 vintage. As per a press statement from Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges, 2023 is ‘a generous vintage of remarkable balance’ exhibiting finesse and elegance. It has deep, rich aromas, a dense texture, and a lasting finish.
The estate’s Technical manager, Jean-Marc Moron, remarked that 2023 is a unique year in terms of identity, which neither compares with previous ones nor fails to please those in a rush and those willing to wait till the wine reaches its peak in a decade or two from now.
Moron confessed how the chaotic weather conditions last year led to many sleepless nights for him and his team. However, when the harvest time arrived, the grape yield was plenteous, in excellent condition and perfectly ripe.
Cortot, who was overseeing the auction for the fifth successive year, noted that the abundant harvest may have contributed to less competitive bidding on Sunday.
He also lamented a ‘tense international context’, which has caused a broader slowdown in Burgundy sales in recent months. This was evident at the 2023 Hospices de Beaune charity auction, held in November, which was down 21.8% compared to the previous year.
As such, Cortot said the 36% year-on-year decline at Sunday’s auction was ‘predictable’, despite the quality of the 2023 vintage.
However, there were a couple of highlights. Cuvée Hugues Perdrizet emerged as the star of this year’s auction, drawing a record bid of €60,000 from Maison Albert Bichot.
The cuvée is named after the gentleman who graciously gifted the initial vineyards to the hospital many centuries prior. It is born from a selection of the estate’s eldest vines, deliberately handpicked by Moron.
On the other hand, the Cuvée des Bienfaiteurs, which showcases a blend of the estate’s nine premier crus, was purchased for a record-smashing €66,980, outdoing last year’s value. The proceeds were kindly donated to the Clément-Drevon Foundation, a non-profit organization that conducts medical investigations in Burgundy.
In a broader perspective, the red wines were sold for an average cost of €15,700 per barrel while the white wines managed an average price of €20,300.