That a record value for the 157^th Hospices de Beaune wine sale was achieved was never in doubt, such was the extra volume of wine that was ‘donated’ by the 2017 vintage. There hasn’t been a volume of wine like this for sale since either 2011 or 2009, or in some places since 1999 – it just depends on where you want to look. The yields were around 40–42 hl/ha for the reds and 48–50 hl/ha for the whites – whilst this is much more than most recent vintages, it was within the permitted maximums.

The Domaine of the Hospices now runs to 61 hectares and in 2017 offered at least 49 cuvées for the sale. The hammer-price total achieved by the barrel sales today was well over 11 million Euros – that’s €13,529,301 with commissions – which beats the record established in 2015 by over €2 million! The extra total was volume-related versus 2015, as the average, per-cuvée, price decreased versus that vintage, but it was still higher than in 2016.

• Here is a list of the ‘top lots.’ (pdf)
• On a per barrel basis, the wine was cheaper in 2017 than in the previous ‘record year’ of 2015, but as you can see, still higher than in 2016:
  

  Vintage Sale Total € millions Price per barrel* Number of barrels 2015 €11.3 million €18,880 575 2016 8.4 million 13,833 596 2017 13.5 million 16,657 787

  *Ex Christies, without commissions…

‘But a film?‘ I hear you say.

Yes indeed! This was a showing tonight, in Beaune, of a 98% completed version, and I think it a great portrait of a number of growers, looking at their last, very difficult, 18 months or-so in the vines, plus a little insight into the Trois Glorieuses. Well done Scott Wright and David Baker – it will be worth your time, whenever and wherever it is eventually released:

Three Days of Glory Teaser from SlipstreamCinema on Vimeo.