On Tuesday November 12, the Bourgogne Wine Board (BIVB) is organizing a unique auction featuring nearly 600 old appellation signs, which have graced Bourgogne's vineyards for over 20 years. This is a rare opportunity for wine enthusiasts and collectors to acquire a piece of Bourgogne's rich viticultural history.
These panels are divided into more than 300 lots comprising legendary Bourgogne appellations, from Grand Cru to Village and Régionale appellations. The auction will be live-streamed on drouot.com and interencheres.com, via direct coverage from the Cité des Climats et vins de Bourgogne in Beaune. Open to the general public online, the sale will be orchestrated by auctioneers Jérôme Duvillard and Alexandra Chaillou-Weidmann from the Quai des enchères.
The proceeds from the sale will be donated to the Cité des Climats et vins de Bourgogne, to support conferences and exhibitions focusing on the cultural, artistic and historical heritage of winegrowing in Bourgogne. It's a wonderful opportunity to promote Culture (with a capital “C”) and contribute to the preservation of Bourgogne's rich heritage!
2024 Harvest: Bourgogne's Agility Meets the Challenges a Trying Year
The 2024 vintage has been affected by difficult weather conditions since April. It's harvest time, and with the harvest's quantitative potential reduced, a nimble approach is needed to choose the optimum harvest date and preserve its promising quality.
In Bourgogne, as in much of France, the year has been punctuated by atypical weather conditions, with rainfall well above normal. This was compounded by localized but severe frost and hail.
These conditions have led to high disease pressure, requiring substantial work in the vineyards throughout the growing season to protect the crop. As a result, many regions are seeing small, well-aerated grape clusters.
The warm and relatively dry weather that finally set in during August helped improve the situation and provided favorable conditions for ripening. However, vigilance remains crucial, as more autumn-like conditions have arrived at the start of the harvest. Only a careful assessment can determine the optimal harvest date to ensure the best quality.
Although the volume of the harvest has been reduced by the unpredictable weather—difficult to estimate at present depending on the sector—the quality is expected to hold up.
The parcels monitored by the Bourgogne Wine Board's (BIVB) Vintage Observatory reveal promising sugar/acid balances. Additionally, the sunny, dry weather that arrived on September 12 has allowed the grapes to continue ripening.
Nonetheless, the utmost care is required this year, both in the vineyard and the winery, with strict grape selection—a practice deeply embedded in Bourgogne's winemaking tradition—being indispensable.
The harvest began as early as September 2 in the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay plots destined for the production of Crémant de Bourgogne. For still wines, the harvest gradually started during the second week of September, with Pinot Noir leading the way, maintaining the head start it gained during the ripening phase.
At your service
Watch! A brand-new web serie on Bourgogne wines!
Get ready to be amazed by this latest creation from Bourgogne wines. Sommelier Maxime Dubois disrupts the rules of wine tasting, making it easy for you to appreciate what it's all about.
Starting October 5, we're launching our new web series on Instagram and Facebook, all about wine tasting. Aimed at a less-experienced audience, it seeks to bring together anyone with an interest in wine!
On July 2 and 3, the apartment above Le Charlemagne restaurant in Pernand-Vergelesses took on a Hollywood vibe. The Bourgogne Wine Board (BIVB) chose this comfortable and modern setting to film, in collaboration with Bourgogne Live Prod, the first season of a new web series hosted by Maxime Dubois, who is an official Bourgogne wine educator.
This series uses Instagram (and TikTok) style, with dynamic editing and a light-hearted tone, while still delivering quality, informative content. The six episodes will teach you the basics of Bourgogne wine tasting, covering essential questions:
1. Wine Glass 101
2. How to Open & Serve Wine?
3. How to Look at your Wine?
4. How to Smell your Wine?
5. How to Taste You Wine?
6. How to Store an Open Bottle?
Using an accessible and entertaining approach, Maxime Dubois aims to make the world of wine more engaging and accessible to everyone, whether you're a beginner or an experienced enthusiast.
The show will be broadcast in English every Saturday, starting October 5.
About Maxime Dubois:
Maxime is a young French sommelier who has been based in Vietnam since 2019. After studying at Ferrandi in Paris and gaining experience in managing a restaurant and wine bar in Dublin, he became a Certified Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers.
He has traveled the world meeting winemakers and is now an instructor at the Red Apron Wine School in Vietnam. In 2023, he became an official Bourgogne wine educator.
On July 3, the 53rd “Cave de Prestige” awards ceremony organized by the Bourgogne Wine Board (BIVB) was held at the Cité des Climats et vins de Bourgogne in Beaune.
Laurent Delaunay and François Labet, presidents of the Bourgogne Wine Board (BIVB), congratulated the 119 Coop, estates and négoces selected for the 2024 edition. 183 wines were chosen, among 1,394 samples, to represent the excellence of Bourgogne on the world stage for the next year.
With a selection rate of 13.1%, the Cave de Prestige is known for its rigorous standards, embodying the diversity and quality of Bourgogne wines. These wines will be showcased at international events like the Grand Bourgogne Tour, as well as master classes and training courses organized by the BIVB. More than 8,500 bottles have already been ordered to support promotional and educational initiatives for 2024/2025 cycle.
The ceremony highlighted the vitality of the Bourgogne wine industry, with 19 new companies recognized for the first time or making a return to the selection. Laurent Delaunay paid tribute to the dedication of the winners and the diversity of the cuvées, with 75% of the wines coming from the 2022 vintage, excluding Crémant de Bourgogne. These wines will henceforth serve as ambassadors for Bourgogne, both in France and internationally.
On November 17, the 164th Hospices de Beaune Wine Auction will be held at Les Halles de Beaune, with a strong commitment to the One Health concept. This integrated approach focuses on preserving the health of people, ecosystems and animals, emphasizing the close links between these three domains.
The funds raised from the sale of the Pièce des Présidents, the auction's iconic charity barrel, will be donated to associations committed to this holistic vision of health.
For this 2024 vintage, the Domaine des Hospices de Beaune is strengthening its environmental commitment, with its 60 hectares currently achieving organic conversion. This initiative aims to protect the health of vineyard workers, local communities and consumers alike.
What is the Pièce de Charité?
Since 1945, the Pièce de Charité (Charity Barrel) has been a powerful symbol of this global event. Each year, an exclusive barrel of wine, often an exceptional Grand Cru, is auctioned and the proceeds donated to one or more charities. In 2024, this tradition will continue once again with the Pièce des Présidents (other name of the Pièce de Charité), whose proceeds will be dedicated to causes supporting the One Health approach on a local, national and global scale.
Beaune comes alive for the Wine Auction weekend:
From Friday November 15 to Sunday November 17, enjoy a diverse program including street performances, a gastronomic village, cellar tours, and of course the prestigious Hospices de Beaune wine auction.
October 30: The Ladoix Appellation in the Spotlight Worldwide
In the webinar “Rendez-vous avec les vins de Bourgogne”, you’ll learn all you need about this hidden gem from Côte de Beaune.
1 hour to find out more about Ladoix, its history and its wines, through reports, interviews and tastings.
The Ladoix appellation has shown great patience in gaining recognition as a fully-fledged Village appellation. Like many others in Bourgogne, the winegrowers had to fight hard to highlight the unique qualities of their wines.
Does being a link between the Côte de Nuits and the Côte Beaune influence the characteristics of the wines from this 140-hectare vineyard?
- Part 1 of this course, hosted by Master of Wine Robin Kick, will reveal key facts about the appellation, with reports and interviews with winegrowers.
- Part 2 will feature a guided tasting of several wines.
The program will be broadcast live (Paris time): at 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. in English
There are two ways to participate and ask questions live via chat, to the hostess and the winegrowers:
- Join an in-person group with one of our official Bourgogne wine educators. Contact them directly to register.
- Join an online session, without the wine tasting, but still with the chance to better understand the appellation. Connect to: www.rendez-vous-vins-bourgogne.live
This webinar is exclusively for press and wine professionals.
For more information, please contact Cannelle Peulot at cannelle.peulot@bivb.com
Bourgogne Honored at the 2024 OIV Awards
The educational game "7 families of vine decline diseases" received a Special Mention at the prestigious 2024 OIV Awards in the "Manual" category. Presented by an international jury of wine industry experts, this award has been a key reference in the sector since 1930.
Developed by Vinipôle Sud Bourgogne, in collaboration with the Bourgogne Wine Board (BIVB), this game was validated by the Plan National Dépérissement du Vignoble (PNDV).
Focusing on observation and memory, it covers historical vine diseases such as viral infections (fanleaf virus, leafroll virus) and raises awareness about emerging diseases in France and Europe. A group of experts from the IFV (French Institute of Vine and Wine), INRAE (National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment) and other viti-vinicultural institutions contributed to updating the knowledge integrated into the game.
This award highlights the importance of raising awareness and providing continuing education in the wine industry. Congratulations to all the winners of the 2024 OIV Awards.
Bourgogne vs. Burgundy: to re-affirm their identity, the region and the producers are reverting back to the original French iteration of the name, Bourgogne.
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