Supplier Spotlight: Billon, Damy & Les Hospices de Beaune
Updated: 2 days ago
The famous wine auction of Les Hospices de Beaune encompasses the rich action packed weekend of "Les Trois Glorieuses" which translates to "The Three Glorious Days" which translates to the "The Three Glorious Days" and includes:
Saturday Banquet of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin @ Château du Clos de Vougeot
Sunday Wine Auction of Les Hospices de Beaune @ Hôtel-Dieu
Monday La Paulée de Meursault Lunch @ Château de Meursault
In 2024 Tonnellerie Billon provided the barrel for the famous and most expensive "Pièce des Présidents" cuvée and Tonnellerie Damy since 2012 has exclusivity for all Hospice de Beaune barrels destined towards chardonnay. In the spirit of our last custom and stock barrels being delivered, we wanted to shed light about this important Burgundian tradition, winery and it's renovated cellar: La Cuvérie des Hospices de Beaune.
Hôtel-Dieu: Beaune's Charitable Hospital
This building has become the icon of Beaune and represents Les Hospices de Beaune's original building and dates back to 1443. Until 1971 it was a working hospital and many Beaunois including Vincent Bouchard were born here. Over the centuries, benefactors gave vineyard parcels to the hospital and today the domaine covers 60 hectares. The holdings represent Premier and Grand Cru's from the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits that include 52 cuvées; 34 red and 18 white which are farmed organically.
A Modern Gravity Flow Winery Located on the Outskirts of Beaune
In the early 2000's a new "Cuverie" was built on the outskirts of Beaune located next to many of Beaune's 1er Cru sites. The winery was designed so that barrels could be filled using gravity post fermentation. Chardonnay is picked, pressed and then barrel fermented and aged. Pinot noir sees a cool pre-fermentation maceration and is then fermented in stainless steel before being brought down to barrel for malolactic fermentation. On average and depending on the vintage, the cellar holds roughly 620 barrels. These new barrels will only spend a couple months in the Cuverie des Hospices de Beaune because the actual barrel full of wine will then get auctioned off in November and brought to one of the 51 Négociant-Éleveur Houses such as Bichot, Drouhin, Bouchard, Latour etc..
Winemaker Ludivine Griveau
Appointing Ludivine in 2015 as the estate director and chief winemaker also known as "La Régisseuse" is
historical in itself because it is the first time Les Hospices de Beaune has had a female winemaker in it's
570 years of history! Under Ludivine's stewardship, the whole estate converted to organic farming, certified from the 2024 vintage. Amongst her duties, Ludivine
chooses which cuvée becomes the Charity Barrel or La Pièce des Présidents. The most expensive charity barrel sold for 810,000 EURO: A 2022 Corton Grand Cru aged at Louis Latour.
Tonnellerie Billon and Damy - Historical Hospice de Beaune Winemaking Partners
Prior to the arrival of Ludivine Griveau, Tonnellerie François Frères had the monopoly over all barrels purchased by Les Hospices de Beaune. In 2015, Griveau slowly started to diversify and currently the cooperages that are part of the winemaking mix include: François Frères, Taransaud, Ermitage, Cadus, Billon and Damy. Roughly 620 new barrels are purchased every year so being included in the mix is a cooper's dream!
Starting in 2021, Tonnellerie Damy secured exclusivity for all chardonnay parcels. Since the chardonnay parcels are smaller than the pinots and sometimes only a single cuvée, stylistically going with one cooper was a logical decision considering Damy's origins of being Meursault based and working very well on chardonnay.
Tonnellerie Billon has been a longtime partner for Les Hospices de Beaune in the pinot cellar and recently in 2024 was tapped (the opportunity rotates between the cooperage partners) to make the barrel for La Pièce des Présidents aka the Charity Barrel. The forest of origin selected was Bertranges, 2Y Air Dry with a Medium Toast and was filled with a Beaune 1er Cru Les Bressandes. The purchaser was Brazilian, Alora Pereira Lino and it sold for 360,000 EURO.
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