Beaune (France) (AFP)

The 159th auction of the Hospices de Beaune totaled Sunday evening 12.3 million euros in revenue, less than the record amount of 14 million euros recorded in 2018 but second best result despite lower volumes.

Including the costs, "the entire sale totals 13.1 million euros, the second best result," said in a joint statement the Beaune Civil Hospices and British auction house Christie's.

After two years of consecutive success, the organizers of the famous Hospices de Beaune sale offered this year for sale only 589 barrels, 30% less than after the exceptional harvest of 2018, the fault of a capricious weather.

But the quality was at the rendezvous: they are wines "very Burgundy, with beautiful levels of acidity and a clear desire to express their terroir", had argued the manager of the field of Hospices, Ludivine Griveau.

The average price for a coin was felt, reaching the record figure of 21,823 euros, up 29.5% compared to 2018. A Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru was sold for 149,800 euros to a US customer on the phone. , again a record.

Earlier Sunday, the charity, a Corton Grand Cru Les Bressandes, was awarded for 260,000 euros to a Brazilian buyer, Alaor Pereira Lino, who offered for the second year in a row this piece called "Presidents" .

In 2018, two "Presidents' coins" had been put up for sale and sold for 230,000 euros to three associations, far from the record of 2015 to 480,000 euros.

"The wines in the Presidents' Room are special wines and the work done by the Hospices de Beaune is magnificent," commented Mr. Lino, importer of wine in Brazil, before adding: "But I'm doing a good job because that I will receive a wonderful wine ".

The Presidents 'piece was sold this year to the Brain and Spinal Institute and the Williams Society, which supports research into Williams' syndrome, a genetic disease.

Sponsors Tony Parker, the journalist Ophélie Meunier and actors Christophe Lambert and François-Xavier Demaison had raised the stakes, the latter even threatening to stop drinking Burgundy if they did not rise enough. "Sales will be affected," he joked.

During the auction, Tony Parker himself bought two pieces, 228-liter drums, the equivalent of some 600 bottles.

The domain of the Hospices, constituted over the centuries thanks to donations, is classified for 85% in Premier Cru and Grand Cru.

The recipe - out of charity - will be donated to the hospital institution Hospices founded in the fifteenth century, to finance the modernization of the hospital and the maintenance of the historic building of the Hotel Dieu.

© 2019 AFP