Total sales at the Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges 2022 auction reached €2.49m ($2.74m) from 109 ‘pièces‘ of wines from the Burgundy 2021 vintage, said organisers.
Held on Sunday 20 March, sales rose by nearly 30% on last year’s auction, which hit €1.9m from 114 pièces of 2020-vintage wines. One pièce is equivalent to 288 bottles.
Sales were €1.6m back in 2020, and this year’s record total is more evidence of Burgundy’s strong momentum on the fine wine market.
It also suggests the annual auction of Domaine des Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges wines is gaining prominence alongside the better-known Hospices de Beaune event.
On average, a pièce of red wine at this year’s auction fetched around €22,482, up nearly 35% on last year.
Yet the price rose 67% for the cuvée Georges Faiveley, Nuits-St-Georges premier cru ‘Les St-Georges’. It sold for €51,000 this year, versus €31,000 at the 2021 auction.
Only one pièce of white wine was auctioned this year. The Nuits-St-Georges premier cru ‘Les Terres Blanches’, Cuvée Pierre de Pême, fetched €58,000. Two white wine lots featured in last year’s auction, achieving an average price of €27,000.
The cellars at Domaine des Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges. Photo credit: Studio Morfaux.
The Hospices de Nuits 2022 auction of the estate’s wines may also be seen as an early vote of confidence in the Burgundy 2021 red vintage, despite concerns about yields.
Domaine des Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges is a hospital and winegrowing estate founded in 1270, and today spread over 12.7ha.
Jean Marc Moron, estate technical manager, said prior to the 2022 auction: ‘After a series of sunny vintages starting in 2018, the 2021 vintage at Domaine des Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges has seen a return to pure Burgundy tradition: perfect balance, clear typicity, small yield wines, and incredible balance.’
Held in the cellars of Château du Clos de Vougeot, the 2022 auction was the 61st Hospices de Nuits sale.
The charity ‘pièce’. Photo credit: Studio Morfaux.
This year’s charity pièce, comprising a blend of the Domaine’s nine Nuits-St-Georges premier cru sites, sold for €43,585. Proceeds from this lot will go to APF France Handicap, to enable the charity to support disabled people via its ‘digital community and inclusion’ project.
For the past two years, organisers have encouraged private collectors and individuals to take part in the annual auction of the estate’s wines by contacting local merchants.
In 2022, individuals could ‘subscribe’ directly to the charity pièce, at a price of €150-a-bottle.
Auctioneer Hugues Cortot and wine expert Aymeric de Clouet presided over this year’s sale.
