Hospices de Beaune Wine Auction

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1

   Read a Chancellor's Guilt in Stone and Tiles

   history Price: moderate

   WHERE: The interior courtyard of the Hôtel-Dieu, 2 rue de l'Hôtel-Dieu, 21200 Beaune. Museum entry from €12.50 full price, from €9.50 reduced; other rates appear when you book online. 2026 calendar: 1 April–15 November 9:00–19:30; 1 January–31 March and 16 November–31 December 9:00–12:30 and 14:00–18:30. The ticket office closes one hour before the site.

   WHAT: Walk through the arch into the Cour d'Honneur and count the colours on the roof: red, green, brown, yellow — four glazed tile shades intertwined in geometric patterns. Nicolas Rolin had this built in 1443, and historians still argue about why. He was Chancellor of Burgundy for 40 years under Philip the Good — one of the most powerful non-noble men in Europe. The art historian Erwin Panofsky later wrote that Rolin founded this hospital out of a 'guilty conscience.' The saying attached to him: all his life he had worked for earthly kings. Now he decided to work for the King of Kings. His wife, Guigone de Salins, was 20 when they married in 1423; he was 47. She ran this hospital after his death in 1462 until her own death in 1470.

   HOW: Touch the courtyard paving. Look up at the dormers. Ask the audio guide (included with entry) to explain the Flemish architectural connection — Rolin modelled this on hospitals from Lille to Flanders, and the architect was likely a Fleming named Jacques Wiscrère. Spend 10 minutes here before entering any rooms. The tiles you're looking at are replicas restored 1902–1907 — the originals didn't survive. Care here ended between the early 1970s and the early 1980s; since 1988 the whole building has been given over to visitors.

   BACKUP: If the museum is closed (certain public holidays), walk rue de l'Hôtel-Dieu — you can read the roofline from the street. The Marché aux Vins directly opposite (5 rue Nicolas Rolin) is open independently.

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2. 2

   Stand Where the Dying Faced the Last Judgement

   history Price: moderate

   WHERE: The Grande Salle des Pôvres inside the Hôtel-Dieu museum — same ticket covers access. Rogier van der Weyden's Last Judgement, which first hung at the end of this hall, is away from autumn 2026 for about three years of analysis and restoration at the C2RMF in Versailles.

   WHAT: Stand by one of the canopied beds and face the end of the hall. That is where the nuns installed a 215cm × 560cm panel painting commissioned in 1443 — the same year as the hospital's founding — so the dying patients could see it from their beds. Rogier van der Weyden painted it in Brussels, fifteen panels across nine boards. That was the function: comfort and warning simultaneously. When it is back, read it left to right: Heaven on the far left — a gilded church, the saved ascending steps and disappearing inside. Christ on a rainbow in the centre, the Archangel Michael weighing souls on scales. Hell on the far right — the damned tumbling into fire and steep rocks, screaming, dragging each other in. Nicolas Rolin is in it as a donor figure. Guigone de Salins is there too.

   HOW: Walk the length of the hall between the canopied beds and stop where a patient would have lain, facing the end wall. Ask the audio guide about the polyptych's hinge system — six of the nine panels fold, and when closed they show grey-scale grisaille figures of saints. The painting is in poor condition: paint loss, darkened colours, a heavy layer of over-painting during a 19th-century restoration, which is why it has gone to the C2RMF laboratories. Its only previous fundamental restoration was in 1875-1878 in the Louvre's workshops.

   BACKUP: The Grande Salle des Pôvres is 50 metres long, 14 metres wide and 16 metres high, with original canopied beds where two patients shared each mattress. If it is crowded, find the apothecary first: 130 faïence pots dated 1782, with ingredients including powdered woodlice and crayfish eyes.

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3. 3

   Walk the Walls Until Premier Cru Vines Touch the Horizon

   adventure Free

   WHERE: The medieval ramparts encircling Beaune — accessible free at a dozen entry points. Find the wall-and-turret symbol on street signs. Best start: entrance near Square des Lions, or opposite 42 Avenue de la République. Full circuit is 2.5km.

   WHAT: Climb onto the ramparts (towers from the 14th and early 16th centuries, bastions from 1637) and watch both directions at once: below you in the town, the Hôtel-Dieu's polychrome roof. On the hillside pressing against the city edge, Premier Cru vineyards that don't stop for urbanisation — Les Bressandes, Les Grèves, Les Cent Vignes. These are the same parcels that ended up in the Hospices de Beaune's 60-hectare estate. The auction every November exists because of those vines. Every hammer price at Sotheby's in the Halles de Beaune echoes out from this landscape.

   HOW: Go late afternoon if you can — the light on the vineyards and the tiles is the reveal. Observe the QR code panels on each tower: scan them for English-language context on dates and defensive function. The walk takes 1–1.5 hours at a gentle pace. No booking, no fee, no queue. From the walls you can count the vine rows running up the slope — these are not ornamental. Someone harvested them last autumn.

   BACKUP: Walk 20 minutes west from the city centre to reach the hillside vineyard paths directly. The free Beaune walking app maps a route through Premier Cru plots. Bike rental in Beaune reaches Meursault, Pommard, and back in an easy half-day — ask any hotel for the nearest rental point.

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4. 4

   Taste Beaune Wines in the Old Cordeliers Church

   wine Price: moderate

   WHERE: Marché aux Vins, 5 rue Nicolas Rolin, 21200 Beaune — directly opposite the Hôtel-Dieu entrance, open daily 10:00–12:00 and 14:00–19:00. Housed in the former Church of the Cordeliers, founded in the 13th century. Book via marcheauxvins.com.

   WHAT: The Hospices de Beaune estate's auction cuvées each carry a name, and more than 52 of them go under the hammer each year. One is the 'Nicolas Rolin' — a Beaune blend from five Premier Crus: Les Cent Vignes, En Genêts, Les Bressandes, Les Grèves, and Les Teurons. Named after the guilty chancellor who built this entire institution. Another, 'Guigone de Salins', is named in honour of his wife, the woman who outlasted him and ran the hospital until she died; it comes from three plots, Les Bressandes, Les Seurey and Champs Pimont. The Marché aux Vins pours a fixed flight of five wines, so don't count on these auction cuvées: ask whether the flight includes a Beaune Premier Cru, the appellation that surrounds the Hospices estate. Every November since 1859, these wines have sold at auction. In 2025, the total reached €18.75 million. One barrel — the Pièce des Présidents — sold for €400,000 by candlelight, the way every lot was sold in 1859: winner is the last bidder before the flame goes out.

   HOW: Book the Discovery Tasting (5 wines, €25 with reservation) — into the cellars beneath the former nave. Ask the guide about the cuvée naming system: every name is a donor or historical figure. The Prestige Tasting (7 wines, €49) adds Grand Cru access. This venue is 30 seconds from the Hôtel-Dieu entrance — taste before or after your museum ticket.

   BACKUP: If Marché aux Vins is full, Patriarche Père & Fils on rue du Collège has 5km of cellars with self-guided tastings. Or Le Bistrot Bourguignon (8 rue Monge), with more than 500 wines on its list, open Tuesday to Saturday. At Alain Hess on Place Carnot, go downstairs to the cellar for a cheese-and-wine tasting.

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5. 5

   Witness the Auction That Sets Burgundy's Global Price

   Optional

   adventure Free

   WHERE: Halles de Beaune (covered market hall), Place des Halles, opposite the Hôtel-Dieu, 21200 Beaune. The auction happens on the 3rd Sunday of November at 2:30pm. Les Trois Glorieuses spans Friday–Monday of that weekend.

   WHAT: Observe what happens when more than 52 cuvées of Burgundy go under the hammer. The Hospices de Beaune auction doesn't just raise money for health charities — it sets the psychological benchmark for how the new Burgundy vintage will be priced by négociants worldwide. When the 2022 auction hit €28.98 million, the market read confidence. When 2024 came in at €13.9 million, the trade asked hard questions about the vintage. The charity barrel, the Pièce des Présidents, is the one lot still sold by candlelight, as every lot once was (last bidder before the flame dies). Its appellation changes every year; in 2025 it was a Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens, and it raised €400,000 for disability charities. That's one barrel: 228 litres. Then count what Les Trois Glorieuses looks like in the streets: Saturday is a black-tie dinner at Château du Clos de Vougeot. Sunday is the auction. Monday is La Paulée de Meursault — the winemakers' lunch that regularly doesn't end until evening.

   HOW: Anyone can bid — online, by telephone, in the room or with a written bid — and seats in the room are on request only (hospicesdebeaune@sothebys.com). But the Beaune streets during Trois Glorieuses weekend are entirely free: public tastings at dozens of domaines, street entertainment, market stalls. Follow the Sotheby's live-stream from any café. Book accommodation 8–10 months ahead — Beaune hotels sell out for this weekend. If Beaune is full, try Meursault or Nuits-Saint-Georges.

   BACKUP: Year-round, the museum visit (steps 1–2) and the Marché aux Vins tasting (step 4) give you the complete context. The Halles de Beaune itself (Place des Halles) hosts a free Saturday market — 100+ food stalls — every week of the year: the same space that transforms into the world's most famous charity wine auction each November.

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