Hospices de Beaune 2024 – Are You Ready for the Élevage!!

The Hospices de Beaune auction is around the corner: November 17, 2024. If you want to join the fun, it’s time to prepare.

This is a charity auction for a good cause, so outside normal investments and evaluation criteria. And remember that generosity is a good thing when making your bid.

Winehog and the Hospice wines

Readers of the Winehog will know that I primarily recommend the Hospice wines to professional buyers, buyers with a need to get many bottles of a 1er Cru or a Grand Cru. This is where the Hospices de Beaune has its strongest merits.

There are therefore special reasons why you perhaps should read the rest of this article, as the Hospices de Beaune offers some possibilities not found elsewhere in Burgundy.

The Hospices de Beaune offers the opportunity to buy full barrels (288 bottles or so) of 1er Cru and Grand Cru wines of the latest vintage … i.e. the 2024 vintage.

This is unique in Burgundy, where six to twelve bottles is the normal allocation for a Grand Cru.

With the Hospices wines, you need to choose the right person to do the élevage for the best results and full hedonistic pleasure from the wine.

If you go on the offensive with the élevage and do more to adapt the wine to a more modern expression – i.e. less impression of the new oak barrels, then you could possibly adapt and transform the Hospice wines into something even more interesting.

The 2024 wines

The 2024 wines are still fermenting in most cellars and still, there are less than two months to the Hospices de Beaune Auction.

The red 2024s are most likely on the lighter side, but could take on weight if properly handled. It looks like they will need quite some extraction to tie the ends together … to give some core intensity and focus. Yields of the reds are very low … so there is some “room” for the winemaking.

We are not talking violent punch-downs – but more work on the juice – pumpover & remontage and even sometimes some punch-downs – to avoid the acidity and slightly unripe and bitter notes in striking out. The growing season was devastating with rain and mildew – hence, not naturally big and burley wines – and the core will have to be created within the wine to give them balance and some cohesion.

In my view, the style of this vintage still calls for a moderate use of new oak, and this makes it almost mandatory to change the barrel during the élevage of the Hospices de Beaune wines – as 100% new oak during the full élevage will be too much ….

Still, some ways to go with the 2024s in the tanks and in the press. This is a very complex and difficult vintage …

The Hospices … how it works!

The Hospices de Beaune wines are all made from the vineyards that have been donated from the past centuries. The wines are auctioned off in November, just after the harvest. The buyers decide who will do the élevage: maturing and finishing the wines, then bottling them.

The élevage can include a change of oak, more or less sulphur, length of maturation, and so forth. So, the wines are sort of adopted by the éleveur, who seeks to optimise the offspring of the Hospices.

In my experience, the élevage can have a great influence on the final wine and the pleasure you will get from it. Sadly, many of the big élevateurs don’t bother and go for 100% new oak from Hospices de Beaune.

The base wine

The wines of the Hospices de Beaune are sound and healthy regarding the reds, at least. I won’t comment on the whites at all, as I have too little experience with these!!

The Hospices de Beaune concept is to begin its wines in new-oak barrels. For me, this sort of limits the prospects of – especially – the lesser wines. Mainly, the 1ers Crus.

Very few in Burgundy raise 1ers Crus in 100% new oak these days. So, why do this with a Hospices wine?

In my experience, this over-oaks the wines to a degree where they can become problematic. If you like strongly oaked wines, this is fine by me, but in the midst of global warming, this is not the recipe for an elegant Burgundy.

So the base setting for a Hospices wine is somewhat … hmm … struggling to find a nice word.

For the Grands Crus, there is a more realistic choice: using the Hospices’ new barrel while adapting other parameters. Again, this depends on your taste and the barrel used for the Hospices wine. In reality, I don’t think that most Grand Cru bottles of similar quality would undergo élevage in 100% new oak.

This leaves quite a few decisions to the buyer – or the éleveur – to make a really good wine. It’s not just bottling without thinking about the optimal élevage.

This is not intended to be a critique of the Hospices de Beaune’s winemaking. Rather, it is a recommendation of its red wines These are, in reality, the only good Burgundy wines that can be acquired in large quantities.

My suggested élevage

Élevage can be a relatively complex matter, as there are several parameters that can be adjusted. However, it should be simple!

The oak

To me, it is clear that one will not get the best result if one continues with the new oak from the Hospices. It is simply too much wood if maintained over the full élevage.

This means the wine should be racked into a used barrel, preferably one used for one, two, or even three wines. This will tone down the oak impression.

Depending on the used barrel chosen, a balance can be found. The basis of new oak from the Hospices is a given, so perhaps it’s a good idea to start out with a wine whose initial oak treatment gives you pleasure. So, analyze the wines barrel by barrel before you buy them, as the initial oak is irreversible.

A used barrel for the élevage is an extra cost, but in all honesty, using the original Hospices barrel during the full élevage is rarely a good idea. Bizarrely, many éleveurs maintain the original barrel. I wonder why? One could argue that the top-end cuvées – Mazis-Chambertin, Échezeaux, and Clos de la Roche – can handle 100% new oak. But is it optimal?

Given the presumably lighter vintage ceramic barrels could well be the ideal choice to do the elevation after the wine is removed from the Hospices de Beaune barrel. Ceramic vessels like Clayver are almost perfect for this – if one has an annual need to élevate Hospice wines.

Sulphur

One can maintain a lower sulphur level during élevage, but given the nature of the Hospices wines, it is probably advisable to keep the level reasonably high and keep an eye out for volatile-acidity issues.

Élevage duration

The length of time a wine spends maturing in the barrel is another parameter that can be adjusted. A shorter élevage will usually leave the wine more fruity and forward. Especially when doing it in a new barrel, the length of élevage should be considered.

Just two to three months fewer can make a world of difference, and when combined with a used barrel, can do miracles.

Especially a lighter vintage like the 2024 a shorter élevage could well be optimal as it would keep the liveliness in the wines.

To do …

Find an éleveur in whom you have confidence; i.e., know the éleveur has sound principles, particularly regarding oak policy.

Find an éleveur that can get the used barrels needed; i.e., not at the last minute, and of good origin and quality.

Find an éleveur who will give you a comprehensive plan for the élevage.

Buy the barrel(s) at the auction with the éleveur, as this is a chance to purchase those best suited to your purpose.

I would look for éleveurs and talk to them. I have tasted one example from Jane Eyre where the oak was swapped – it worked very well in this instance. It was tasted with a similar cuvée elevated on the Hospices oak … i.e. similar wines but different élevage and final oak.

Jane Eyre does seem to understand the Hospices de Beaune wines very well … hence, she is, in my view, a strong candidate to do the élevage.

Just look for an éleveur, who has a pragmatic stance, and who will change the Hospices barrels quickly if necessary.