Festival · Burgundy

Hospices de Beaune Wine Auction

World's oldest and most prestigious charity wine auction (since 1859, 165 years running) — third Sunday in November, 500+ lots from the Hospices' 60 hectares of Burgundy Grands/Premiers Crus, raising €14-21M annually for the medieval hospital's care mission.

What to do there

FestivalHospices de Beaune Wine AuctionIn 1443, one of the most powerful non-noble men in Europe built a palace for the dying — art historians say out of guilty conscience. He commissioned Rogier van der Weyden to paint a Last Judgement so the patients could see it from their beds. Comfort and warning, simultaneously, across nearly six hundred years of hospital tradition. Every November since 1859, the charity he created has auctioned its wine; one charity lot still goes by candlelight — winner is the last bidder before the flame dies. In 2025, one barrel of Pommard sold for €400,000. That single hammer price in a covered market in Beaune echoes through wine price lists worldwide. Care here ended between the early 1970s and the early 1980s, and since 1988 the whole building has been given over to visitors.

Hospices de Beaune Wine Auction

What to do there

Wine bars and wineries nearby