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Why Does a Hospital for the Poor Own a Vast Vineyard? — Hospices de Beaune

Burgundy, Through One Map

Why Does a Hospital for the Poor Own a Vast Vineyard? — Hospices de Beaune

Watercolour panorama of the polychrome tiled roof of the Hôtel-Dieu, Hospices de Beaune

In the heart of Beaune, in the Côte de Beaune, stands a building crowned with a roof of glazed tiles — red, brown, yellow, and green — arranged in geometric patterns. Its name is Hospices de Beaune. Its historic building is known as the “Hôtel-Dieu,” built in 1443 as a hospital for the poor sick. Yet today, the name is often known in the world of wine before it is known as a hospital, because Hospices de Beaune owns roughly 60 hectares of vineyards centered on the Côte de Beaune, and each year releases the wine harvested that same year. Why did an institution built to save the poor come to own such an extensive vineyard? The answer lies in a decision made by a married couple more than 580 years ago, and in the goodwill of countless people who followed in the centuries since.

ItemDetails
InstitutionHospices de Beaune — its historic building is known as the Hôtel-Dieu
LocationBeaune (Côte de Beaune)
Founding coupleNicolas Rolin (chancellor of the Duchy of Burgundy) and his wife, Guigone de Salins
Milestone yearsAugust 4, 1443 (founding charter signed) / 1452 (the hospital receives its first patients) / 1859 (the practice of auctioning each year’s harvest becomes established) / continuing to this day (held every year on the third Sunday of November)
For referenceAll of the vineyards were assembled through donations, centered on the Côte de Beaune and extending into the Côte de Nuits. Total area is roughly 60 hectares

A Married Couple Who Built a House for the Poor

As of 1443, the Hundred Years’ War had not yet ended. Amid the long conflict, it is said that three-quarters of the residents of Beaune were left with no resources to rely on. That year, Nicolas Rolin, chancellor of the Duchy of Burgundy, and his wife, Guigone de Salins, decided to build a hospital for the poor sick in the town. The founding charter, dated August 4, states their purpose plainly — “I, Nicolas Rolin, knight, citizen of Autun… found and irrevocably endow, in the city of Beaune, a hospital for the poor sick.” The central great hall was completed around 1449–50, and by 1452 the hospital had already received its first patients.

Beneath a Roof of Many Colors

The buildings of Hospices de Beaune are known for Gothic architecture linked to the Flemish style, and above all for a roof of glazed tiles arranged in geometric patterns. Tiles glazed in red, brown, yellow, and green trace geometric figures across the roofs surrounding the courtyard — a design that still carries the deep ties between the Duchy of Burgundy and Flanders. After Nicolas Rolin died in 1462, Guigone de Salins chose to become a nun herself, devoting the rest of her life to the hospital until her own death in 1470.

A Vineyard Built Up Through Donations

Not long after its founding, people from the region began donating land to the hospital. Hoping for a family member’s recovery, or as an expression of gratitude, people came forward century after century to entrust vineyards to the institution, and these gifts accumulated little by little. The vineyards gathered this way now spread from the villages of the Côte de Beaune into the Côte de Nuits, totaling roughly 60 hectares today. Title to the land still rests with Hospices de Beaune.

1859: A System for Sharing the Harvest Takes Hold

How should the wine harvested each year from these accumulated vineyards serve the hospital’s operation? The answer that took hold in 1859 was to auction off that year’s harvest within the same year it was picked. The practice has been carried on as a tradition ever since, held every year on the third Sunday of November. The proceeds go toward maintaining and modernizing the hospital’s facilities and equipment, as well as supporting a local charitable organization chosen each year. The names of those who donated vineyards live on today in the names of some of the estate’s cuvées.

More than 580 years have passed since Nicolas Rolin and Guigone de Salins built this house for the poor in the town of Beaune. The hospital’s role has changed with the times, but the vineyards gathered through donation, and the system for sharing each year’s harvest, still operate today toward that same purpose.

Three Facts Worth Knowing

  • Hospices de Beaune was built in 1443 by Chancellor Nicolas Rolin and his wife, Guigone de Salins, as a hospital for the poor sick. It was a time when, ten years before the Hundred Years’ War ended, three-quarters of Beaune’s residents are said to have been left destitute.
  • The building is known for its Flemish-style roof, where tiles glazed in red, brown, yellow, and green form geometric patterns. Beneath it, after her husband’s death, Guigone de Salins became a nun and devoted the rest of her life to the hospital.
  • What sustained the hospital across the centuries was the donation of vineyards by countless people. In 1859, the practice of auctioning each year’s harvest took hold, and the tradition continues today, with the proceeds supporting the hospital’s operations and local welfare.

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