Wine enthusiasts and collectors, get your paddles ready.
Christie’s is hosting its first wine auction since 2022 on June 12, brought to you by billionaire businessman, private collector and America’s Cup winner Bill Koch. The three-day event features 1,500 lots comprising nearly 8,000 bottles of historic vintages from his private collection, which has a low estimate of $15 million but could exceed $21 million.
Bordeaux and Burgundy make up the lion’s share, and at the heart of the collection is more than 750 large-format bottles — including more than 45 jeroboams (three liters) and methuselahs (six liters) from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.
In fact, the revered wine producer makes up the entirety of the top 10 by value list, with No. 1 — a 1985 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti — seeing a high estimate of $180,000.
“A Chicago wine dealer brought this bottle to my attention in 1988. He acquired it from Europe,” Koch told The Post, referring to himself as a wine “geek.”
“I have loved large-format bottles because they take longer to mature,” he explained. “It has to do with surface space and oxygen. The larger the bottle, the less exposure to oxygen, the better the wine ages. But putting aside my geekiness, this wine is one of the vintages my wife loves to drink. She has great taste. It was an excellent year for Burgundy.”
Indeed, 1985 was a great year for wine, but this is also a big one. A methuselah holds six liters — or eight standard bottles.
“$120,000 divided by 203.2 ounces equals $590-plus per ounce,” said Joe Czerwinski, the Wine Advocate’s wine reviewer for Canada, Napa Valley and New York State regions.
“That’s the low estimate, which doesn’t include the buyer’s premium. If it goes to the high estimate, you’re talking upward of $900 per ounce.”
Jhonel Faelnar, beverage director for NA:EUN Hospitality, which includes New York City’s Atoboy, Naro and two-Michelin-starred Atomix, believes it to be one of the best vintages ever produced.
“Romanée-Conti is, of course, one of the most storied vineyards in Burgundy and in the world, coming from one of the most hallowed producers of pinot noir ever to exist,” he said. “I would certainly like to drink this bottle, were I to have the chance to.”
He said the $180,000 price is worth it — for “the people who can afford” it.
“These wines are pieces of history, and it’s a special moment to encounter these, especially if you can be a part of opening and tasting them,” said Faelnar.
While the collection features a variety of price points — the 1929 Château Haut-Brion going for $2,000 to $3,000 caught Faelnar’s attention — he said some may be too rich for one’s blood.
“You’re bidding for a piece of art at this point — one you can potentially imbibe and ingest,” Faelnar said.
“Oftentimes, they can be disappointing in the glass — they are, after all, hundred-year-old bottles of wine,” he said. “But the anticipation that it might be every bit as amazing as one can hope for fuels every collector’s hopes and folly.”
Six magnums of 1982 Château Mouton-Rothschild are also up for the taking for a tune of $9,000 to $14,000. This particular vintage unlocks a core memory for Koch: sharing it with Will Smith’s agent, Jim Lassiter. (Yes, that Will Smith.)
“He came to my house with Steve Tisch and David Bloomfield of Escape Artists,” he recalled. “They had purchased the movie rights to the book ‘Billionaire’s Vinegar’ [and] were looking for my participation and investment capital. The superb wine was the only thing we agreed on that evening.”
Koch said his chemical engineering background helped influence his wine collecting. At one point, he had upward of 43,000 bottles across his cellars at his estates in Palm Beach, Florida, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Aspen, Colorado.
He views the auction as a gift that keeps on giving — it’s a part of a wine collection that he’s spent half a century curating.
“These bottles reflect my taste, my interest in history, my passion for collecting and my respect for the care and work that goes into developing great wines, year after year,” he said of his lot, now at 21,000 bottles. “I have some of the world’s best wines, stored in a state-of-the-art cellar and more carefully researched and vetted than any collection I know of. I am enormously proud of it.”
“I just don’t think we will see many more collections like this come to market again,” said Adam Bilbey, Christie’s global head of wine and spirits. “This is a chance to be part of vinous history.”
Koch told The Post that after the sale, he will “still have about 12,000” bottles in his cellar, but doesn’t “expect to add to that.”
“As for the ones I am parting with, which include 45 large-format bottles, it would take two lifetimes and a daily regime of parties to go through them all. It’s time for others to enjoy them,” he shared.
The top 10 wines at the Cellar of William I. Koch: The Great American Collector auction, by value:
- 1985 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: Low Estimate: $120,000; High Estimate: $180,000
- 1991 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: Low Estimate: $110,000; High Estimate: $170,000
- 1999 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: Low Estimate: $100,000; High Estimate: $160,000
- 1996 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: Low Estimate: $100,000; High Estimate: $160,000
- 1999 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: Low Estimate: $80,000; High Estimate: $120,000
- 1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: Low Estimate: $70,000; High Estimate: $100,000
- 1985 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: Low Estimate: $48,000; High Estimate: $70,000
- 1985 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: Low Estimate: $48,000; High Estimate: $70,000
- 1985 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: Low Estimate: $48,000; High Estimate: $70,000
- 1995 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: Low Estimate: $45,000; High Estimate: $65,000
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