This beautiful building is the Hospices de Beaune. What some could argue holds the most famous wine charity auction in the world along with some of the regions best Premier Cru and Grand Cru wines. In fact the wine, Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru Madeleine Collignon, which is a Hospice wine, won the Best red wine in the world Trophy at the 2018 International Wine Challenge.
In 1443, the Hôtel-Dieu was built to take care of the poor and sick people in the area. The Hundred Years’ war had devastated the area and left much of the people destitute. Over the years many vineyards were donated to the Hospice by grateful families and benefactors. In recognition of this many of the Hospices de Beaune wine bottles carry the name of the family or person that donated the vineyard.
As a result of these donations, the Hospice now currently owns about 61 hectares of vines in the Côte de Beaune AVA and 85% of it is Premier Cru and Grand Cru, with most of it (around 50 hectares) being Pinot Noir. Currently there are 50 different cuvées (wines) from this estate all crafted by the Hospices de Beaune Winemaker Ludivine Griveau (who has wine winemaker of the year 3 times!). Another very different and special feature of Hospices de Beaune wines is that most of them are a blend of several terroirs in the Beaune appellation. Most estates in Burgundy produce single vineyard (which = 1 terroir) wine.
The wine auction was first founded in 1859 and has been held every year since. It takes place on the third Sunday of November. The profits from the auction now go to the modern day hospital and other local charities.
