Target Cuvées from the 2025 Vintage Domaine des Hospices de Beaune ?
Preamble:
In our first edition, you explored the unique traits of the 2025 vintage: the weather twists, Ludivine Griveau’s bold farming choices (as estate manager of the Domaine des Hospices de Beaune), plus our take on the wines’ style and those delightful tasting impressions.
In this second edition, we’ll share our market outlook, lay out our bidding goals for next Sunday’s sale, and finally reveal the cuvées that have truly stolen our hearts.
The economic and consumption backdrop hasn’t budged much since last year. The global economy is idling, stock markets are “correcting,” and crypto is following suit. On the drinking side, pros are calling it a Waterloo “dreary plain”!
Though still modest, the number of pièces up for sale is up from the 2024 auction. More reds, fewer whites!
The best buying opportunities will come from the reds. It would take a miracle for white prices to dip.
2025 Vintage Recap: A Kinder Climate, a Stellar Harvest
2025 brought calmer skies than 2024—no spring frost, no hail. (Those two extremes usually crush yields.) Yet it wasn’t all smooth sailing: hot, bone-dry spells alternated with cool, damp stretches that invited vine diseases.
Run organically, the Hospices vines toughed it out, delivering a top-quality harvest.
Ludivine Griveau’s winning call: pick before the rains! By harvesting early, she sacrificed volume (rain swells berries and juice) for concentrated, undiluted fruit.
Both whites and reds are sky-high!
Reds – Pure Harmony
Balanced, ripe-yet-fresh fruit, silky-fine tannins, dense palates without heat—classic alcohol levels. Aromas of fresh red & black fruit (black cherry, strawberry, raspberry) pop clearly. Deep, beautifully structured mouths with wrapped acidity and lingering finishes.
Stand-out sectors:
- Beaune 1ers, Corton, Pommard 1ers – rock-solid across the board.
- Volnay – uneven, but 2 cuvées shine (details coming).
- Savigny-lès-Beaune – 2 knockout targets.
- Under-the-radar gems: Monthelie & Auxey-Duresses.
- Not on our hit list: Côte de Nuits Grands Crus—yes, even the monsters Echézeaux and Mazis-Chambertin!
Whites – Simply Monumental
Laser-precise, broad, ripe substance with perfectly cloaked acidity. Flawless aromatics, balanced, endless length. Picking purely on quality was torture—so we filtered by price and dropped every white Grand Cru (bidding will be indecent!).
Crushing the pack:
- Meursault – every cuvée is a masterpiece.
- Saint-Romain – this close to a crush; don’t sleep on it.
- Pouilly-Fuissé – a future star in 6–8 years.
- Beaune 1er Cru – 2 ultra-terroir lots from high, south-facing slopes (Pommard side).
Drool-worthy headliners: Corton-Charlemagne & Bâtard-Montrachet—vintage-defining.
Buckle up—the bidding war is coming!
Our Strategy & Target Cuvées
This year, quality is sky-high across the board—reds offer a treasure trove of buying opportunities.
Whites? A different beast. With stellar quality and tight supply, prices will climb. For us, 2025 is Ludivine Griveau’s masterpiece vintage—we’re determined to snag a few, but only below our strict ceilings.
Our Target Cuvées (for purchase): Prices shown are maximums and include personalized labels in your name (6 identical bottles).
How to Join the Fun with ANIMA VINUM – The Original Artisan Buyer at the Hospices de Beaune Auction! ?
We’re just 4 days out from the sale – now’s the perfect time to let us know your subscription wishes!
You can sign up for as many bottles as you like in multiples of 6 bottles, 3 magnums, or 1 Jéroboam per desired cuvée. We’ll accept subscriptions right up to the start of the sale: Sunday, November 16 at 2:00 PM.
From Monday, November 17, we’ll confirm the actual hammer prices (based on the auction) – never higher than the ceiling prices listed in this document. If a target cuvée slips away at our limit, feel free to roll your order over to another pick.
Your subscription is locked in once we receive payment (TTC price for the wines, shipping extra). Before delivery in late 2027, a tiny top-up of a few cents per bottle might apply – this covers any rises in dry goods (bottles, corks, wax, labels, wooden cases…) that we can’t predict today. This way, your final price is spot-on fair.
Let’s make it happen! ?
By choosing ANIMA VINUM, you’re embracing a true artisan vision of terroir wines.
Long, hands-off élevage; hand-bottling for reds (pics included!); and premium dry goods all the way:
- Corks air-dried for 15–18 months in the Tramontane wind, washed without peroxide or chemicals, 100 % TCA-free.
- Wooden cases, heavy bottles, hand-waxed magnums, and labels proudly bearing your name as the buyer.
You’ll be invited to Burgundy in spring 2026 to taste your cuvées straight from the barrel, still in élevage.
Delivery: late 2026 (after settling any small top-up for dry-goods cost increases – which we can’t predict today – plus shipping), unless a cuvée needs extra-long aging.
Pure craft, pure joy. ??
