Our featured town this month, Beaune, is just one of the highlights of the delightful cruise on board the “Impressioniste”. Recently moved from Provence, the Impressioniste is one of the flagships of the European Waterways Fleet and now offers a delightful itinerary through the Ouche Valley in Southern Burgundy. The itinerary includes Dijon, Beaune, Chateauneuf-en-Auxois and the Chateau de Commarin. "Impressioniste" offers 6 en-suite cabins, enchanting deck area and salon, and of course as with all the barges, the cruise is all-inclusive - meals, wine, mixed drinks, excursions and entries for the week are included in the price.

To celebrate our new association with the Impressioniste, we have made a change to our itinerary on our “Enchanting Paris & Barging through Burgundy” tour in September to include this wonderful cruise. Guests who book and pay in full prior to the end of March will receive a 5% discount per person and a free night pre-cruise in a charming hotel in the beautiful capital of Burgundy, Dijon.

Beaune is a charming medieval town, situated in the heart of the most beautiful and prestigious vineyards in Burgundy. For those of you who love wine, you may already know that Burgundy wines are exclusively Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (with a few very rare exceptions) and the famous domains around Beaune include Vosne Romanée, Gevrey Chambertin, Cote de Nuits and Nuits-St-Georges. Beaune boasts some lovely little restaurants and cafes in which to try these exceptional wines with the mouth watering local cuisine, and the atmospheric cobblestone streets are a lovely backdrop for its most famous building – the Hôtel-Dieu.

 
The Hôtel-Dieu was founded on 4 August 1443, when Burgundy was ruled by Philip the Good (Philippe le Bon). The Hundred Years War had recently been brought to a close by the signing of the Treaty of Arras in 1435. Massacres, however, continued with marauding bands ("écorcheurs") still roaming the countryside, pillaging and destroying, provoking misery and famine. The majority of the people of Beaune were declared destitute.
The hospital (known as the Hôtel-Dieu) received its first patient on 1st January 1452. Elderly, disabled and sick people, with orphans, women about to give birth and the destitute have all been uninterruptedly welcomed for treatment and refuge, from the Middle Ages until today.

 
Over the centuries, the hospital radiated outwards, grouping with similar establishments in Pommard, Nolay, Meursault and Beaune (the Hospices de la Charité). It became a community of carers, known as the "Hospices de Beaune". Many donations - farms, property, woods, works of art and of course vineyards - were made to it, by grateful families and generous benefactors. The institution is unique in its historical, philanthropic, and wine-producing heritage, and has become intimately linked with the economic and cultural life of Burgundy.

 
Today, the Hôtel-Dieu is a museum whose architectural splendour, unspoilt since the 15th century, is only equalled by the very modern ethic of the institution, which has never abandoned its original mission, to provide care and relief for the destitute who are victims of solitude or sickness. The income earned from the hiring out of prestigious rooms, visits to the museum and its shop are used to improve the conditions of accommodation and care, to modernise the general hospital and to conserve the heritage of the institution.

One of the unique characteristics of the Hospices de Beaune is their wine producing estate.

 
All French hospitals are generally the owners of farms, buildings, heath land or forests, which do not provide much profit. Sometimes these properties may even cost more than they bring in. The Beaune institution, thanks to the donations and legacies which have been made throughout its history, is the owner of more than 61 hectares (152 acres) vineyards. Most of these vineyard plots are located in prestigious appellations. They are nearly all first growths and great growths. The wines of the Hospices de Beaune are auctioned every year on the third Sunday of November - although the wine-growing domain is over five centuries old, the auction only dates from 1859. Two days before the picturesque "sale by candle", the wine tastings take place in the Hospices’ cellars. In the Hôtel-Dieu this activity reawakens all the charms of these centuries-old cellars. A dinner party in honour of Bacchus closes the festivities, in the superb setting of the medieval Bastion.

From 2005, Christie’s has run the Hospices de Beaune wine auction, and it remains the most famous annual charity event in the world. Wine professionals await it expectantly. In fact, this ceremony determines to some extent the quality and value of the year's harvest for the whole of Burgundy. Profits from the auction are consecrated to the policy of investment in care services and heritage. Over the last few years, the results of the wine auction have varied considerably from year to year, from 1,83 million €uros - for the least fruitful harvests - to 5,18 million €uros - for the best.
 

Buying A Bottle……
The Association of Wine Producers and Merchants of Burgundy (Syndicat des négociants en vins fins de Bourgogne) keeps an up to date list of its members (auction catalogue) and can send it to wine-lovers wishing to include Hospices wines in their cellars. The wine sold during the auction is the wine of the same year. After the sale, your wine will be tended by a Burgundy négociant-éleveur in whose cellars it will mature until the chosen moment of bottling (between 12 and 24 months after the auction)!!

 
Where to stay in Beaune…..
We offer a number of choices of hotels in Beaune. Our favourites are….

Located in the historic centre of Beaune, the Hotel Le Cep is a charming 4 star hotel decorated in period style, with its own restaurants and relaxing outdoor patio area.

The 3 star La Closerie Hotel is also an excellent choice, just a few minutes walk from the Hôtel-Dieu and the historic centre, with its own pool and delightful garden area.

Beaune is only two and a quarter hours from Paris by train.

A certain American society matron, visiting the Louvre, stopped before a famous painting of an unwashed peasant. "Isn`t that just like them?" she remarked. "Too poor to buy decent clothes, but he can afford to have his portrait painted!"

**Sources for the article on Beaune from the Beaune Tourist Office and our own experience.