The Hospices Civils de Beaune and Sotheby’s, the world leader in wine auctions, are organising the 163rd wine auction on Sunday 19 November 2023.
To mark the occasion, the charity coin, known as the “Pièce des Présidents”, the barrel of which was made from the wood of an oak tree used to restore the spire of Notre Dame in Paris, will be sold in aid of the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (FRM) and the Initiative de Recherche pour une Longévité en Bonne Santé (IRLB).
Foundation for Medical Research
Founded in 1947 by the brothers of modern French medicine, Jean Bernard and Jean Hamburger, the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale helps to improve life expectancy in good health for everyone, by encouraging and funding the best French medical research projects that are innovative and bring progress for all.
Profits from the “Pièce de Charité” will be dedicated to research into the essential issues of good ageing. In 2023, the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale is continuing its work on neurodegenerative diseases and is launching a new call for projects. This support will enable teams of excellence to propose an innovative research programme, exploring new approaches aimed at better understanding the mechanisms of these complex diseases and identifying therapeutic solutions.
Initiative for Research on Healthy Longevity
The aim of the IRLB association is to support research programmes that could lead to an improvement in human longevity in good health. Its Scientific Director, Jean-Marc Lemaitre, and his research team have been developing projects targeting this objective since 2006. The association was created to support his ambition to set up an Institute for Healthy Longevity, based on three pillars: assessment, prevention and treatment of ageing, in order to delay or even eliminate age-related pathologies.
“A donation from the sale of the Hospices de Beaune charity coin would provide strong support for this humane cause whose medical, social and economic benefits are invaluable.”
Dr Lemaitre, Scientific Director of the IRLB association
The project, which will be supported by the donation from the sale of the charity coin, known as the “Presidents’ Coin”, will focus on the development of an “ageing clock”, which will make it possible to measure “biological age” from a simple blood test. This biological age, which is often different from chronological age, will make it possible to measure how quickly we age, to detect a state of frailty that is setting in among the elderly and to assess the risk of the appearance of age-related pathologies, so that care can be taken at an early stage and the autonomy of the elderly person maintained.
The Hospices Civils de Beaune and Sotheby’s, the world leader in wine auctions, are organising the 163rd wine auction on Sunday 19 November 2023.
About Hospices Civils de Beaune
The history of the Hospices Civils de Beaune began in 1443 when Nicolas Rolin and Guigone de Salins decided to build a hospital: the Hôtel-Dieu. The founders’ charity and patronage established a tradition that has enabled the Hospices de Beaune to survive throughout history in exceptional conditions. Today, the Hospices Civils de Beaune comprises the hospital centres of Beaune, Arnay-le-Duc, Seurre and Nuits-St-Georges. The Philippe Le Bon Hospital in Beaune is the support facility for the Groupement Hospitalier de Territoire du Sud Côte-d’Or.
The originality of this hospital institution lies in the size and nature of its assets, which include, on the one hand, a historic monument, the 15th-century Hôtel-Dieu, which has not welcomed patients or elderly residents since the early 1980s; and, on the other hand, a prestigious 60-hectare Beaune wine-growing estate of the best Burgundy appellations. All these vineyards come from bequests and donations, and their production is auctioned every year on the 3rd Sunday in November, as part of the world’s most famous charity sale. Thanks to its heritage, this hospital plays a leading role in the two major activities of Beaune and its region: tourism and wine. The auction, which can include more than 500 lots, is the most famous and oldest charity wine auction in the world (1859). True to its founding values, each year the Hospices de Beaune supports a charity by donating the profits from the sale of a piece of wine, known as the “Pièce du Président”. Proceeds from the sale of this wine are ear-marked for the upkeep of the hospital’s heritage and the modernisation of its equipment and buildings.
