2024 Hospices de Nuits: An auction with its own discreet, local charm

Sarah Marsh MW reports from the sale and asks if a slight drop in receipts may herald a much-needed softening of prices in the region as a whole

The 1959 Nuits-St-Georges Premier Cru Les Didiers floated over my palate—delicate and pure; fragile yet vibrant. Laurent Delaunay, my host for the weekend, pulled it from the cellar beneath the 19th-century Château de Charmont in l’Etang-Vergy to “illustrate our family’s long-lasting relationship with the Hospices.” The ’59 Didiers was purchased from the Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges by his father.

In those days, the Hospices de Nuits-St-Georges sold its wine in bulk to the local négociants, among which Delaunay was a major buyer, often purchasing the entire production, although not in the excellent 1959 vintage. From 1961, the Hospices’s wine was auctioned in barrel to the trade, but the auction remained largely in the shadows—a B2B event selling barrels.

Meanwhile, the Delaunay family experienced a dramatic fall and revival of fortunes. After selling their domaine and négociant business in the 1990s, Laurent and his wife Catherine, who are both enologists, created Badet Clément in the Languedoc; then, in 2003, they established DVP (Domaines et Vins de Propriété), designed to be Delaunay’s return ticket to Burgundy (see WFW 83, pp.108–11).

Back in its heyday, the house of Edouard Delaunay was among the leading distributors of Burgundy, channeling the wine of famous domaines, including Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, around the world. Strategically, using DVP as a reincarnation of its distribution business, Laurent Delaunay plugged into a network of domaines to secure deals to buy grapes from them.

Delaunay now works with 200 Burgundy producers and distributes to as many as 60 countries.

In 2019, having bought back the family name, he completed the circle by producing an Edouard Delaunay portfolio of wines made from purchased grapes. Production takes place in the modern winery beside the château in the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, which lies on the west side of the hill of Vergy.