2025 Hospices de Beaune: Introduction and T&Cs
Introduction
Honest Grapes Wine Club offers members the opportunity to form crowdsourced syndicates which will purchase barrels of Burgundy at the Hospices de Beaune charity auction to be elaborated and bottled by a famous local winemaker. These are unique wines, with only a few hundred bottles produced, as masterpieces of Burgundian art. We have formed similar syndicates for every vintage since 2019 at the Hospices de Beaune and vintages 2020 through to 2023 at the Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges (the 2024 vintage produced too few barrels).
Wines from the 2025 vintage will be purchased at the auction on 16th November 2025 and will be ready for delivery in Q1 of 2028. The auction price paid is somewhat uncertain, and whilst there are more barrels expected to be available for purchase this year, interest in Burgundy in general and the Hospices auction in particular remain at very high levels, hence we expect prices to remain buoyant.
Wines are sold in lots, and with 24 cases of 12 per barrel (288 bottles), we need syndicates of 24 shares per barrel, so please help us to fill them! We will organise events with Tom Harrow, Nathan Hill and the winemaker in London and Burgundy during the maturation period of the wine so that syndicate members can enjoy the fun of seeing the wine develop.
We are delighted that Pierre & Marianne Duroché and Charles Ballot will be undertaking the élevage for our red and white barrels respectively. We expect to buy the following: A red Premier Cru (probably from Volnay, Pommard or Beaune), a red Grand Cru (probably Corton) and a white (almost certainly Meursault Premier Cru). The final selection is made after consulting numerous experts and in collaboration with the éleveur. When we’re bidding, we also try to stay in budget and will drop the paddle if the prices seem crazy.
Hospices de Beaune Background
In 1457, Jean Guillotte le Verrier made the first donation of vines to the Hôtel-Dieu built by Nicolas Rolin in Beaune in 1443. This custom continued through the centuries and endures today. Making a donation of vines to the Hospices is a way for the patients or their family to thank the institution, ensure its longevity and, also, to go down in history themselves! The wines of the Hospices de Beaune (referred to as cuvées) often bear the name of the family who donated the plots of vines whose grapes go into the composition of the wine.
This practice and the generous donation of vines still continues today. In 2017 a new PulignyMontrachet appellation wine went up for auction for the first time, after the bequest of a plot of vines by Domaine Bernard Clerc. No doubt there will be further bequests and donations in the years to come to add to the already long list of the Domaine des Hospices de Beaune’s prestigious appellations which include Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, Savigny, Corton, MazisChambertin, Echezeaux and Clos de la Roche for example.
Each year, several hundred barrels are auctioned on the third Sunday in November, with the auction comprising about 50 cuvées. Vinification follows organic principles without being certified.
Ludivine Griveau has been the Domaine’s talented estate manager since the 2015 harvest. From the Domaine des Hospices’ patchwork of terroirs (117 different plots), she creates 50 wines, referred to as ‘cuvées’: 33 red wines and 17 white wines. Every day, she oversees and coordinates the work of 22 winegrowers who are on the Hospices de Beaune payroll. Each one works a small surface area of vines (around 3 hectares) using sustainable practices and organic growing principles when possible.
During the vinification, Ludivine Griveau’s goal is to express the quintessence of the terroirs and of each Burgundy Climat (listed as UNESCO world heritage), which she is responsible for.
Syndicate Membership
The actual price paid for each barrel won’t be known until after the auction. The prices shown are thus estimates – please see the notes below for payment terms and the post-auction adjustment of membership costs. Prices are per share of 12 bottles delivered to Honest Grapes UK bonded storage. The wines described below are illustrative, and we will trust Tom to make the final selection based on recommendations from contacts at the Hospices and our selected winemaker.
We will do our best to consult with the syndicate if we feel we need to go much over the nominal share price we’ve set. If you would like us to buy a less expensive wine or try to get a bigger Premier Cru or Grand Cru, please let us know – we are building the syndicate on your behalf!
The small print
- Barrels are crowdfunded by syndicates which need to be filled ‘crowdfunded’ in order for us to bid.
- The case price includes the cost of the wine, auctioneer’s premium, cost of the barrels, ‘elaboration fee’ to the winemaker for chemical analysis, elaboration, maturation and bottling, labelling, transport to Honest Grapes’ UK bonded storage and Honest Grapes’ project management over the two years to delivery.
- Standard delivery is in cases of 6x75cl bottles. We will ask you for any special case and bottling instructions (e.g. magnum formats) and labelling (within the limits of practicality and regulation). We will pass on any extras on a reasonable basis. The expected cost of magnums or jeroboams is £180 per 12 bottle equivalents (9l). Please note that ‘dry goods’ costs are rising rapidly, so we cannot guarantee this price until just before bottling.
- We expect this year’s reds to be delivered in wooden cases and the whites in cardboard cases. This may change at the discretion of the éleveur, so please let us know if you have specific requests.
- Syndicate members confirm membership with an 80% deposit based on the expected case price on invoice and cleared funds by 8th November 2025. The remaining subscription will be due immediately after the auction (within 7 days please) once the adjustments described below are confirmed.
- Given the short time between pledges and the auction, we are trusting members’ pledges. Please don’t let us down as we are committing to these barrels at auction. If you wish to withdraw from your pledge, please do so in writing by latest 17:00 GMT on Friday 7th November.
- Payment is via our club Direct Debit scheme or by bank transfer. Credit/Debit Card / PayPal is not accepted.
- If the syndicate fails to raise enough subscribers before the auction, we will encourage syndicate members to take extra cases to make up the lot. We will also encourage prospective members to shuffle their requests in order that we can make up entire lots of wine.
- Honest Grapes will help the syndicate to succeed by underwriting up to 15% of the production if unsold at the time of the auction. We shall offer this surplus wine for sale thereafter, generally at a higher price.
- If the syndicate still fails to raise enough subscribers before the auction, or fails to purchase wines at the auction, we will return members' deposits less any costs directly incurred.
- Syndicate members authorise us to go up to 20% higher in price if we believe in the quality of wine on tasting and the value at auction. In previous years we have been between 83%-120% of the nominal amount and of course we’ll reduce the price per bottle if we manage to secure the right cuvée at a lower cost.
- The selection of wines shown in this document is indicative and members rely on the expertise of Honest Grapes and our selected éleveur to make the final decision at the auction on behalf of the Syndicate.
- If we fail to secure sufficient wine to meet every Syndicate member’s requests, or purchase more than one cuvée, Honest Grapes will implement a method for scaling back and / or allocating cuvées purchased.
- Honest Grapes will offer tastings and experiences in partnership with the winemaker from auction to bottling. Such experiences may be separately chargeable.