Climate change cuts Hospices de Beaune harvest, fewer barrels at Burgundy charity auction

After six months of near drought, the harvest has been cut by around half on the 60 hectares owned by the Hospices de Beaune, which hold a very prestigious wine estate. Across Burgundy as a whole, that is 26% less than the average of the past five years. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Only 432 barrels and two feuillettes (half barrels) are being offered this year in Beaune. That is not far from the 358.5 barrels in 2021, the lowest level in the modern history of the auction, created in 1859 and the second oldest charity wine sale in the world. The recent halt to the surge in prices should therefore be confirmed among the roughly 500 buyers who began raising their paddles shortly before 3 pm under the Beaune market hall, the "capital" of Burgundy wines. The record of 29 million euros in total takings set in 2022, but with 817 barrels, should therefore not be broken. "A word for climate sceptics: we are in the middle of climate disruption", says Ludivine Griveau, the Hospices vineyard manager. "It has already been going on for some time, but now we can see it in all its intensity". Live in New York Meagre harvest or not, there is nevertheless "always demand for Burgundies", explains Jérôme Flous, technical director of the Faiveley house. The local saying should thus be confirmed: "In Burgundy, people hunt for wine to sell. In Bordeaux, they hunt for ways to sell it". "There will always be money for Burgundy", confirms the cellar master of the Domaine de Montille, the American Brian Sieve. Although reduced in quantity, the 2026 vintage is "incredible" in terms of quality, he judges, between two tastings in the Hospices winery where buyers taste the Pommard and other Meursault wines that will go under the hammer. The heavy rains of the winter of 2025/2026 saved the vines during the extremely hot and dry summer of 2026. Buyer registrations are already "numerous, coming from a large number of countries", says Marie-Anne Ginoux, managing director of Sotheby's France, which is running the auction. In the United States, despite Trump's customs duties, demand is such that an immersive room allowing the sale to be followed remotely has been installed at the New York headquarters of the auction house. "Overall tight" market While the overall revenue record looks hard to beat, the one for the average price per barrel should "probably" be, predicts Anne-Laure Rayne-Helfrich, marketing director of Maison François Martenot, the second-largest buyer by volume at the Beaune auctions. "French people and customers around the world want to buy", she says, while acknowledging that the market is "overall tight". In China in particular, "luxury is collapsing", explains a wine trader on condition of anonymity. The Beaune sale, while it is a global showcase for luxury, is above all a charity event, since the proceeds finance the structural investments of the hospital run by the Hospices, for which they receive no subsidies. Besides this main charitable work, the "pièce de charité" - "pièce" referring to a 228-litre barrel - is traditionally reserved for another charity. This year it will be two associations fighting rare diseases, notably Charcot disease. The sales record was set in 2022 at 810,000 euros, more than 2,800 euros per bottle.