Wines. The Beaune auctions with Thierry Lhermitte and Michel Cymes, but without records

It was one of the most anticipated moments this Sunday of the 163e sale of Hospices wines Beaune. But, as reported The Public Goodthe talent of the godfathers Thierry Lhermitte and Michel Cymes was not enough to boost the bidding for the star lot, awarded for “ only » 350 000 euros (excluding fees), i.e. 1 215 euros per bottle.

As is tradition, the auction had reserved a piece (as a barrel is called in Burgundy) for a particular cause. Last year, it was, then reserved for the cause of children, was sold for 810,000 eurosor more than 2,800 euros per bottle.

Profit paid to associations for medical research

For this 163rd edition, it is to “aging well” that the benefit of this exceptional cask goes, both in terms of the content (a Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru) and the container: the “piece” was shaped in a 220-year-old oak tree used in the reconstruction of the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris. The proceeds from this “charity coin” or “presidents’ coin” will thus be donated to two associations: the Foundation for Medical Research (FRM, sponsored by Thierry Lhermitte) and the Initiative for Research on Healthy Longevity ( IRLB, supported by Michel Cymes).

Once the piece was sold, the bidding continued at a frantic pace, with numbered plates rising in the crowd of some 800 buyers from Europe, America and increasingly Asia, in the hope of putting get your hands on a prestigious Pommard, Corton or other Meursault. From 2018 to 2022, the average price of a “coin” more than doubled, going from 16,849 to 35,980 euros.