Every November, the town of Beaune in Burgundy sells the newest vintage from one of the oldest wine estates in France, barrel by barrel, to raise money for its hospital. The 166th sale takes place today, Sunday, November 15, 2026, under the vaulted roof of the Halles de Beaune, according to the Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne (BIVB), the Burgundy wine trade body.

For anyone who buys or collects red and white Burgundy, it is the first public look at the 2026 vintage and the most watched charity wine sale in the world. Here is how it works, and how its wines eventually reach American shelves.

A hospital that owns vineyards

The Hospices de Beaune began in 1443, when Nicolas Rolin, chancellor to the Duke of Burgundy, and his wife, Guigone de Salins, founded the Hôtel-Dieu in Beaune as a hospital for the poor. Over the following centuries, families left vineyard land to the hospital in their wills. The BIVB puts the estate today at about 60 hectares (roughly 150 acres) of vines.

The hospital started selling its wine by the barrel at auction in 1859. The proceeds still go to the Hospices.

What is actually sold

The lots are not bottles. They are barrels of the brand-new vintage, still young wine resting in oak a few weeks after harvest. Each wine is named for a cuvée, usually honoring the donor of the vineyard it comes from. Buyers are mostly Burgundy merchant houses (négociants) and wine shops, who take the barrel home, finish raising the wine in their own cellars and bottle it under their own label alongside the Hospices de Beaune name.

One barrel each year is set apart. Called the Pièce des Présidents or Pièce de Charité, its proceeds go to outside charities chosen for that year rather than to the Hospices.

Can a private buyer take part?

Yes, though usually not alone. The BIVB explains that individuals can join a consortium that buys a barrel and shares it out, with the cost covering the wine itself, the auction house commission (the sale is run with Sotheby's), the merchant's work raising and bottling the wine, and shipping. A whole barrel is far more wine than most households want, which is why buyers group together.

Why collectors watch it

The sale prices are the first market signal for a new Burgundy vintage, months before the rest of the region's wines are offered. The quantity of wine on offer also tracks the harvest: a small crop means fewer barrels, and the auction totals move with it. Results for the 2026 sale are expected once the bidding closes this evening, Beaune time.

Finding the wine in the United States

Hospices de Beaune wines reach American retailers a year or more after the sale, once the buying merchant has bottled them. Look for the words Hospices de Beaune on the label together with the cuvée name and the merchant who raised it. Wines from this year's auction will carry the 2026 vintage, so a bottle on a shelf today is from an earlier sale.

If you want to follow the results tonight or ask about joining a barrel share for a future sale, the BIVB's guide to the auction is the place to start.

Sources