Charity wine auction share to go to Paris attack victims

Organisers of France’s most celebrated charity wine auction said Sunday that €480,000 of the €11 million ($11.8 million) raised this year would go to charity, including to victims of the Paris attacks.

The Hospices de Beaune charitable hospital’s 155th auction saw bids come in from around the world, enabling this year’s event to surpass last year’s total of eight million.

An anonymous French buyer purchased a 2015 vintage Corton Renardes Grand cru red, dubbed the “Presidents’ Piece”, for a record €480,000, and auction organisers said part of the sale would be donated to the Paris victims and their families.

The rest of the proceeds will be donated to the Curie cancer institute and a foundation for brain tumour research.

“(The buyer) wanted to show support for the two charities and also had recent events in mind,” Christie’s international general director Aline Sylla-Walbaum said, referring to Friday’s attacks in Paris that left 129 people dead.

An additional €40,000 raised Saturday in a spontaneous round of fundraising will also go to the Paris victims and families, organisers said.

The Corton Renardes Grand cru typically retails for around €1,000, Sylla-Walbaum said. The sale broke the previous €400,000 record for a bottle sold at charity set in 2010.


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