A Hospital That Owns Vineyards
The Hospices de Beaune was founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, chancellor of the Duke of Burgundy, and his wife Guigone de Salins, as a hospital for the poor. Over the following centuries, benefactors gave the institution land, including vineyards. The hospital building, the Hôtel-Dieu, is now a museum, but the Hospices still exists as a public health institution, and its vineyard estate continues to fund it.
The Domaine des Hospices de Beaune owns roughly 60 hectares of vines, much of it classified as Grand Cru or Premier Cru, spread across the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits. The wines are sold as cuvées, many of which carry the names of the donors who gave the land, and the estate produces more than 40 different cuvées of red and white wine each year.
How the Auction Works
The sale has been held every year since 1859, on the third Sunday of November. What is sold is not bottled wine but the new vintage, just a few weeks after the harvest, in barrels. The standard Burgundy barrel, known as a pièce, holds 228 litres.
Buyers acquire barrels at auction and then have the wine raised (matured) and bottled by a wine merchant or estate of their choice in Burgundy, which is why many lots are bought by négociants and wine shops on behalf of clients. Private individuals can also bid, either in person or remotely. Christie's ran the sale from 2005 to 2020, and Sotheby's has organised it since 2021, which has helped bring in international buyers.
The prices are watched closely by the wine trade as an early indicator of the new vintage's quality and of demand for Burgundy, although the charity context means bids often run above normal market prices.
The Charity Barrel
Each year one special lot, known as the Pièce des Présidents, is auctioned for one or more charitable causes chosen in advance. Celebrity presidents, often well-known figures from film, sport or the arts, take part in the bidding to draw attention and raise the price. The proceeds of this barrel go to the chosen charities rather than to the Hospices itself.
Les Trois Glorieuses
The auction is the centre of a three-day festival known as Les Trois Glorieuses. On the Saturday, the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin hosts a formal dinner at the Château du Clos de Vougeot. The Sunday is auction day in Beaune. On the Monday, the Paulée de Meursault, a long lunch where producers bring their own bottles to share, closes the weekend. The dinner and the Paulée are invitation or ticketed events with limited places.
What Visitors Can Do
You do not need to be a buyer to enjoy the weekend. On the Saturday and Sunday the streets of the old town fill with stalls, music and visitors, and many wine merchants and estates organise tastings. In some years, the Hospices offers public tastings of the new vintage before the sale; check the programme published by the Hospices and the Beaune tourist office in the weeks before the event.
Entry to the auction room itself is limited, and seats are mainly reserved for registered bidders and guests. For most visitors the experience is the town on that weekend rather than the sale. Some years, the auction is shown on screens or streamed online.
Planning Your Visit
- Dates: the sale falls on the third Sunday of November. In 2026 that is 15 November.
- Accommodation: Beaune and nearby villages fill up months ahead for this weekend. Consider staying in Dijon, about 20 to 25 minutes away by regional train.
- Weather: Burgundy in mid-November is usually cold and often damp. Bring warm layers and comfortable shoes for standing outdoors.
- Driving: traffic and parking in Beaune are difficult on auction weekend. Arriving by train is simpler.
- The Hôtel-Dieu: visiting the museum adds context, but expect queues that weekend. A visit earlier in the autumn is calmer.
Beyond the Weekend
If you visit Beaune at another time of year, the Hôtel-Dieu museum tells the history of the Hospices and its estate, and wine merchants in town often stock bottles of past Hospices cuvées, bottled under the names of the merchants who raised them. That is the simplest way to taste the wines without bidding for a barrel.
