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The Hospices de Beaune & the Climats

24/11/2021


The Hospices de Beaune charity wine auction is a powerful expression of the founding values of the Bourgogne winegrowing region and the Climats du Vignoble de Bourgogne World Heritage site. It is also a fabulous opportunity to shine the spotlight on the region in all its diversity, whether historical or contemporary, physical or intangible. The protection and promotion of the heritage that the Climats represent is at the heart of our mission to encourage the restoration of historical buildings, to better understand their architecture and components, and to bring to life the know-how that surrounds them, as well as to capture and share an oral heritage. That is also what the Climats represent – an exceptional testimony of a living cultural tradition.

The Hospices de Beaune & the Climats:  A very close connection

  • A key heritage element in the UNESCO dossier

The Hospices, also known as the Hôtel-Dieu, is not just an exceptional architectural gem. It also represents a unique legacy from a charitable establishment founded on a winegrowing estate. Across the almost 60 hectares of vines making up the Hospices estate are Climats with reputations that date back over centuries.
The public Hospices de Beaune wine sale is also an integral part of the World Heritage listing, as part of its intangible heritage. It is the world’s oldest and most famous charity wine auction, and has, since its creation in 1859, perpetuated the charitable efforts of the Hospices founders, Nicolas Rolin and Guigone de Salins.

  • A partner in the inventory of the town’s network of cellars

The network of cellars hidden beneath the towns of Beaune and Nuits-Saint-Georges are fascinating, but also greatly unexplored. The Association des Climats du Vignoble de Bourgogne – World Heritage has just launched a pioneering project to obtain detailed scientific data on the network in order to better understand how the wine industry was organized and the related heritage. An initial study was undertaken in the summer of 2021 with the Hospices de Beaune in partnership with surveyors TT Géomètres Experts. The cellars were fully scanned and mapped in 3D, which will result in a precise map and 3D model. These tools will serve to build a methodology to inventory the entire network of cellars in Beaune et Nuits-Saint-Georges.
 

PRESS CONTACT: Association des Climats du Vignoble de Bourgogne – World Heritage

Delphine Thevenot-Martinez / communication@climats-bourgogne.com
+33 (0)3 80 20 10 40 / +33 (0)6 31 42 13 50

The Climats du Vignoble de Bourgogne – a UNESCO World Heritage Site

On 4 July 2015, the Climats du Vignoble de Bourgogne were added to UNESCO’s prestigious World Heritage List as cultural landscapes, or “combined works of nature and of man”. The listing reflects the Climats du Vignoble des Côtes de Nuits et de Beaune’s status as a model for terroir winegrowing. It also takes into account the cultural and heritage elements embodying this 1,000-year-old history of wine production. As such, it is culture, savoir-faire, and heritage of the winegrowing villages and historical centers of Beaune and Dijon that have been recognized by UNESCO.

Since the listing, our association has had a mission to protect, promote, and raise awareness of this exceptional region through a range of efforts and a management plan for the territory drawn up in partnership with the state, local authorities, and professionals from the world of wine. 

The inclusion of the Climats du Vignoble de Bourgogne on the UNESCO World Heritage List was one of the triggers for the creation of the Cité des Climats et Vins de Bourgogne. The listed area will naturally be at the heart of the content of the future Cité in Beaune. Our association is a member of the steering committee, and as such, will be offering its expertise and actively participating in the development of the museography and scenography of the future visitor experience, in particular with regard to the space set aside for the World Heritage site.

The future Cité Internationale de la Gastronomie et des Vins in Dijon will also be dedicating a special place to the Climats. Furthermore, 2022 will also mark the 85th anniversary of the Route des Grands Crus de Bourgogne, and we will be coordinating a program of events to celebrate this legendary itinerary. 

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