The Burgundy of wine meets the arriving of the spring, with new vintages and Hospices de Nuits

From Chablis (March 21) to the Côte de Nuits (March 22), from Mâconnais (March 23) to the Côte Chalonnaise (March 24), to the Côte de Beaune (March 25): they finally return, after the cancellation in 2020 and shortened edition in 2021, “Les Grands Jours de Bourgogne”, the rendez-vous of Burgundy wines in the heart of its territories, reserved for journalists and professionals from the wine world. An open-air salon, which brings in the glasses the latest vintages produced (2020 and 2021) and those just put on the market (2017, 2018 and 2019), is ready to welcome more than 2,300 visitors of 49 different nationalities, located in 14 locations, where you can meet hundreds of Burgundian vignerons.
The frame of “Les Grands Jours de Bourgogne, however, is wider. The Burgundy of wine will experience a double prologue: first the historic “Saint-Vincent Tournante di Corpeau, Puligny-Montrachet and Blagny” (19 and 20 March), a festival born from the solidarity between the vignerons from three countries back in 1938, then the legendary “Vente des Vins des Hospices de Nuits”, on stage on March 20 with edition n. 61, which represents enormous symbolic significance, after the 2020 and 2021 auctions (when 1.92 million euros were collected) staged only in streaming.
There will be 109 “pieces” (barrels containing 288 bottles of wine, ed), one of white and 108 of red, produced from the 2021 harvest, which will end up under the hammer of Hugues Cortot and wine expert Aymeric de Clouet, for 18 different wines, born from the parcels planted more than 40 years ago. And a novelty: for the first time the Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges offers a blend of the estate’s nine Premier Crus, which will be this year’s “Charity Pièce”, the income of which will go to Apf FranceHandicap, the leading association in France in supporting and helping people with disabilities. In 2021 the “Charity Pièce” was sold for 49,000 euros, which were sent to finance the activities of the Institut Pasteur.
“After three consecutive rather warm vintages, it marks a return to the Burgundian tradition: perfectly balanced wines, typicality, low yields”, comments Marc Moron, technical manager of the Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges. “The progress in the vineyard was long and difficult, but at the beginning of the summer the vine began to grow quickly, compensating the slow development of spring. The good weather in July kept powdery mildew and downy mildew at bay, and by mid-September we were ready to harvest beautiful, healthy and ripe grapes, with a perfect balance between alcohol and acidity. Once in the tank, it took six or seven days of maceration before starting fermentation, using only indigenous yeasts. Already after the first pumping over, elegance and fruit emerged for some wines, balance and power for others, depending on the different parcels of Nuits-Saint-Georges”.
Founded in 1270, therefore almost two centuries before its illustrious neighbor, the Hospice de Beaune, between the reign of Louis IX and the accession to the throne of Robert II, Duke of Burgundy, it was for a long time a lazaret, before to become, at the end of the seventeenth century, a real hospital. With its vineyard, born over the centuries thanks to donations from the rich landowners of the area: today, on those lands, there are 12 hectares of vineyards, most of the prestigious Nuits-Saint-Georges appellation, from which 16 labels are born, among which the Nuits-Saint- Georges 1er cru “Les Didiers”.

Focus - Nuits-Saint-Georges, the lots under the hammer

- Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Les Murgers - Cuvée Guyard de Changey (2 pièces)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Les Corvées Pagets - Cuvée Saint-Laurent (4 pièces)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Maladières - Les Brûlées - Cuvée Grangier (13 pièces)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Les Porrets-Saint-Georges - Cuvée Antide Midan (3 pièces)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Les Boudots - Cuvée Mesny de Boisseaux (2 pièces)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Les Didiers - Cuvée Fagon (8 pièces)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Les Vignerondes - Cuvée Bernarde Delesclache (15 pièces)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Les Rues de Chaux - Cuvée Camille Rodier (5 pièces)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Lavières - Les Bas de Combe - Cuvée Guillaume Labye (3 pièces)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Les Saint-Georges - Cuvée Georges Faiveley (4 pièces)

- Gevrey-Chambertin Les Champs-Chenys - Cuvée Irène Noblet (13 pièces)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Les Terres Blanches - Cuvée Pierre de Pême (1 piece)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Les Didiers - Cuvée Cabet (6 pièces)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Saint-Julien - Les Plateaux - Cuvée Claude Poyen (4 pièces)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Les Saint-Georges - Cuvée des Sires de Vergy (7 pièces)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Les Didiers - Cuvée Jacques Duret (7 pièces)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Fleurières-Les Plantes au Baron - Cuvée des Soeurs Hospitalières (8 pièces)

- Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Les Terres Blanches - Cuvée Saint-Bernard de Cîteaux