With the 63rd Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges auction rapidly approaching, we are delighted to announce the preliminary call for new member interest in joining our barrel(s) syndicate. A real bucket-list opportunity for Burgundy lovers, in the past we've crowdfunded as many as five barrels with support from Club Members and corporate partners, and this remains one of Honest Grapes most exciting and distinctive signature offers. The auction on 10th March will see barrels of the superb 2023 go under the hammer and, with a vintage blessed by both quality and quantity, we are anticipating significant interest in the auction.
We have twenty-four 12-bottle memberships in each barrel and are estimating circa £1,800 per share for a top Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru, an appellation which has become increasingly exciting in recent times and which we are targeting at the auction. We are particularly interested in securing corporate or family quarter barrel (72-bottles) shares which includes label personalisation and large formats at no premium. All members of the syndicate will be invited to join our annual Burgundy tour. Details on the vintage and story behind the Hospices are below and information about the specific cuvées and auction and élévage process can be provided.
The Vintage
“A year that is exceptional in terms of identity, without comparison with its predecessors, which will delight both those in a hurry, and those who have the patience to wait until the wines reach their peak, in ten or twenty years’ time.”
Jean-Marc Moron, Technical Manager
2023 has already invited comparison to 2018 in terms of yields, and such was the abundance of grapes at harvest that the picking team could afford to be extremely selective, only choosing the very healthiest fruit in the wines. The generous crop means there will be a total of 150 pièces across 19 different cuvées at the auction, representing the diversity and authenticity of each cru.
Jean-Marc is delighted with early barrel samples which we tasted with him in the cuverie back in November and, like our chosen éléveur Laurent Delaunay, believe they show excellent transparency to their terroirs whilst providing the character and generosity of a warm vintage.
A real club favourite, Delaunay are on an upward trajectory like few others having won IWC Winemaker of the Year Award three years running (Red in 2021 and 2022 and White in 2020). We know of no other producer to achieve this feat! It is a House steeped in history and a prestigious estate, even being one of the sole distributors of one Domaine de la Romanee Conti and Liger Belair La Romanée back in the day. Following the sale of the House in 1993, it fell into near non-existence and, after 25 years of successful winemaking projects elsewhere in France, Laurent bought back the family name to restore it to its former glory. Delaunay have looked after our previous Hospices de Nuits iterations and the results have been exceptional, with attendees on our annual Burgundy Syndicates trips all in agreement of just how delicious the wines are and a real highlight of the trip is to visit and taste them developing.
The Cuvée
There was remarkable consistency across the Domaine’s cuvées, all of which showed good typicity in the style of this very attractive, supple vintage. We have our eye on a small selection of specific barrels – below is one of our top targets...
Targeted Cuvée 1:
Amongst the Domaine’s holdings, one of the jewels in the crown is Premier Cru ‘Les Didiers’. This is the monopole owned by the Hospices which is next to (and was previously considered part of) Nuits Saint George's widely acknowledged “Grand Cru” - ‘Les Saint Georges’ and shares the same soil type – “big stones of white oolite are mixed in with brwn clay topsoil, over a bed of hard Comblanchien limestone” (JM).
Three different cuvées are produced from the 2.45ha vineyard – Cabet (from forty-five year old vines), Fagon (from seventy-five year old vines), and Jacques Duret (a blend of the two). All three cuvées stood out in the 2023. The wines here, like those of their famous neighbour, typically make powerful, well-structured and long-lived wines, but the vintage has brought out great aromatic complexity and freshness, sweeter fruit and rose petal perfumes, as well as a plushness to the tannins. Burgundy lovers will be thrilled to have bottles of Les Didier in the cellar – and it looks like an especially astute buy given how the prices of Les-Saint-Georges next door are comfortably double the price (one of the requirements for its potential elevation to Grand Cru status is significantly higher prices than other Premier Crus).
The Story
Founded in 1270 by the sisters of Hotel-Dieu in Beaune, during the final years of Saint Louis IX’s reign, the Hospices de Nuits moved sites in 1633 before the buildings we see today began construction in 1692 under the direction of Fr Antide Midan of the Church of St-Symphorien de Nuits. Pre-dating the foundation of the bigger Hospices de Beaune by 173 years, the “hidden hospice” is known only to a few insiders and Burgundy afficionados. In recent years profits from the auctions have seen the construction of a nursing home in 1995 and the new Saint Laurent Hospital in 2018. The auction continues to be essential to fund the provision of care for the vulnerable.
Throughout its benevolent history, grateful landowners have donated to the Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges. The estate today comprises 12.5 hectares of vineyards, including choice parcels from within the wine communes of Nuits-Saint-Georges, and Gevrey-Chambertin. Perhaps the jewel in the crown is ‘Les Didiers’ 1er Cru: The monopole owned by the Hospices which is next to (and was previously considered part of) Nuits Saint George's widely acknowledged “Grand Cru” - ‘Les Saint Georges’. The cuverie was modernised in 2002 and winemaker Jean-Marc continues to push the level of quality of the Hospices’ wines ever higher.