BURGUNDY

Not just any ... At the prestigious charity auction that’s an annual highlight of the wine trade, Peter Richards MW gets the inside track on how wines bought here are helping one UK retailer to tap into a growing premium sector

‘EN VOULEZ-VOUS MONSIEUR?’ The auctioneer price of last year’s vintage. The tension conducts the room like an orchestra, his diffuses; the auction proceeds. It’s a good buy. insistent refrain urging potential buyers on A bonus to complement the and the from the stage. Sitting a discreet distance from Volnay already in the bag. the front is a hunched bidder, ostensibly Such was one of the many scenes at the studying the brochure, in reality alert to every 2016 auction in Burgundy. fleeting detail of the buzzy, fluid auction. It’s a moment whose basic emotional and The bidding moves onto a tactical plays will have reoccurred many Above: bidding in full the current state of British retailing. ‘We want ‘It’s great that the Hospices is more premier cru. The bidder has had sotto voce times since 1859 at what is probably the flow at the Hospices de to see how far we can push the boundaries instructions from the buyer sitting directly world’s most iconic wine auction. Beaune auction when it comes to fine wine,’ explains Dawson. about the wine, charity and people behind: get this wine. In the context, it What wasn’t so usual was the identity of ‘We have a traditional customer base who trust looks to be a rare bargain. The buyer is both bidder and buyer on this occasion. Left: Hospices de us. These wines offer them a chance to trade up than just business and prices’ excited – yet increasingly jittery at the The bidder was Mounir Saouma of Beaune, Cuvée – and we want to explore this area more.’ Mounir Saouma bidder’s inscrutable, unmoving micro-négociant Lucien Le Moine, the Goureau Meursault, In a competitive marketplace, retailers are demeanour. Had he heard the buyer Emma Dawson MW from British Burgundy, 2014 increasingly focusing on what sets them apart instructions? Barrel after barrel is sold. retailer Marks & Spencer. from their rivals. The broader M&S business, effect: ‘This is not just food. This is M&S food.’ Soon it will be all gone. The buyer whose offering ranges from banking to home In short, the received wisdom is that we can’t remonstrate – it risks Trading up furnishings via dependable underwear, has Brits turn to M&S when we’re treating ourselves undermining the bidder’s strategy – British supermarkets have a performed indifferently of late. Yet its food or buying gifts. Noting positive reactions to and this powerlessness only adds to reputation for driving a hard bargain and drink category has long held a reputation fine wine parcels, M&S developed a new fine the tension. Memories of 2015’s rather than supporting charitable for quality – witness M&S’s commendable wine strategy to capitalise on this. It has ‘dramatic’ and ‘stressful’ auction causes – so what was M&S doing performance at the Decanter Retailer Awards evolved over time to incorporate the Hospices resurface, when the plan ‘had to be there? Is it just good PR or part of a in recent years – albeit with a price premium wines (first bought in 2011), as well as the torn up halfway through’. bigger plan? And how do the Hospices to match. The company’s accent on luxury launch earlier this year of 30 Bordeaux 2014 Finally, the paddle is raised on wines, pricey at the best of times itself took centre-stage in the company’s wines bought en primeur including the first one of the very last lots: the deal is (newer M&S vintages will be more memorable 2005/6 advertising campaign, growth Château Lafite (at a cool £420 per done, the game expertly played, the than £100 per bottle), sit in the range? which featured luxuriantly shot foodstuffs and bottle). The fine wines go into key stores and

wine secured at 40% less than the The answers reveal much about Photograph:Patrick Aventurier/Stringer/Getty Images a lascivious voice-over intoning words to the online, the latter channel being particularly ➢

88 | December 2017 • DECANTER DECANTER • December 2017 | 89 BURGUNDY

Photograph:Karlsson,Per BKWine/Alamy StockPhoto The Hospices de Beaune story

‘We want to see how far we • The Hospices de Beaune is the majority premier and grand perhaps the most famous of all cru. Anyone can buy – today’s can push the boundaries charity wine auctions. Its story market is truly global – and the starts in 1443, when the iconic wines are matured by local when it comes to fine wine’ polychromatic-tiled Hôtel-Dieu merchants, who help with their Emma Dawson MW, Marks & Spencer (pictured above) in central Beaune knowledge of the vintage. was built to tend the sick. Over the years, the charitable cause was • In 2016, the 156th auction raised important for fine wines, and the retailer’s given vineyards among other €8.4m overall, including 596 periodic 25% discounts also boost sales. donations. The annual auction barrels of wine, which achieved an ritual as we know it today began in average of €13,833 per 228-litre Foothold in fine wine 1859 and forms the centrepiece of barrel. Though still the second So is M&S aiming to poach clients from fine boisterous celebrations in highest total ever, this was 25% wine merchants? Dawson chuckles. ‘We have a Burgundy over the third weekend down on the ‘exceptional’ 2015 sale buying team with experience and excellent of November. The proceeds benefit – an anomaly, as the Paris attacks relationships – we can get hold of great wines. the hospital (now a modern facility happened the day before, spurring We want to use this to become a destination on the outskirts of Beaune) and charity-minded buyers to spend at for people who know their wine.’ She also other good causes. There is a unprecedented levels. Nevertheless, notes how the M&S wine category has famous saying that ‘Beaune is the there were suggestions that this ‘momentum’ within the business, with fine best place in the world to be ill’. softening of prices at the wine a small but growing part that has November 2016 sale also reflected important value, ‘in the way it makes • The Hospices is an important ‘caution’ over the 2016 vintage and customers feel when they come into store’. marker in the evolution of the new the uncertain political climate. The feel-good factor is on Saouma’s mind vintage. The auction features too. His Lucien Le Moine wines, much like the multiple barrels of 45 cuvées, Conducted by Christie’s, the 157th man himself, are renowned for their intensity, blended from sites spanning 60ha, Hospices de sale will marrying an expansive character with an principally in the Côte de Beaune, take place on 19 November 2017 almost forensic comprehension of nuance ➢

DECANTER • December 2017 | 91 BURGUNDY

Above left: Mounir Saouma of Lucien Le Moine. Above right: pre-auction tasting from the barrel in the Hôtel-Dieu cellars

and detail. He and his wife Rotem buy wines supply, but an upshift for those that are scarce. from producers (the Hospices being one While Mounir expresses ‘admiration’ for example) and age them, often for far longer M&S’s support of the auction, I quiz Dawson as than the norm, with extended lees contact in to how many people buying the Hospices barrel a signature technique. Though neither wines really appreciate the charitable aspect is originally from Burgundy, both feel a strong and story behind the wines. ‘You do wonder,’ loyalty and kinship to the region. she muses, before adding: ‘Ultimately, we hope ‘Our children were all born in Beaune; it’s people are buying these wines for their important to us,’ enthuses Rotem. ‘We are quality. But if we can raise awareness of the proud to continue this chain of history and charity, that’s great.’ support the Hospices – even if it’s not our core As ever, Dawson is counting on her good Peter Richards MW is a business.’ To which Mounir adds: ‘It’s great buys translating into good buys for M&S and its widely published wine that the Hospices is more about the wine, customers. Not to mention for the remarkable writer, broadcaster, charity and people than just business and charity that is the Hospices de Beaune. D author and consultant prices. It’s the best weekend of the year!’ Vintage preview It’s not only charity and tourism that benefit Two to try: M&S wines from the from the Hospices. The weekend also helps set the tone for the new vintage, from quality to Hospices de Beaune auction pricing. Christie’s wine consultant and Burgundy expert Jasper Morris MW describes Both wines matured and bottled by Hospices de Beaune, the first half of the 2016 vintage as ‘the most Lucien Le Moine for Marks & Spencer Cuvée Jehan de Massol difficult in living memory’, and the latter half Volnay-Santenots 1er ‘as close to perfect as anybody could hope for’. Hospices de Beaune, Cuvée Cru, Burgundy, France First hail, then a terrible frost and mildew Goureau Meursault, Burgundy, 2014 93 devastated many vineyards – others were France 2014 94 £65 M&S unscathed. Thereafter, fine and balanced £65 M&S Perfumed and engaging, weather saw ‘pure and refined’ wines being Complex and profound, an intensely but still young. This is made, more restrained than the opulent savoury Meursault from a top-notch fairly forceful in 2015s, but which many are touting as fine white vintage. Full of roasted nut character, with dark quality in a classical style. and zingy red apple flavours. The fruit, gamey and earthy Hospices winemaker Ludivine Griveau told palate is tense, textured and aromas leading into a spicy, me that 2016 was a ‘ripe’ vintage, describing resonant with bass tones. Still layered, savoury-sweet palate the reds as ‘softer, rounder than 2015 but still young and steely – will benefit from profile. Fine-textured, poised style powerful’ and the whites as ‘balanced’ and decanting and time in bottle once that opens up nicely. Drink ‘supple’. The auction itself delivered a opened. Drink 2018-2024 Alc 13.5% 2018-2028 Alc 13.5% softening of prices for those wines in decent

92 | December 2017 • DECANTER