On May 19, some 20,000 bottles of wine from William Koch’s cellar will go to auction at Sotheby’s. The blockbuster sale, spread across three days, will represent close to half of the billionaire’s collection and was acquired over the course of nearly 40 years.
“He’s bought on scale,” said Connor Kriegel, head of auction sales for Sotheby’s Wine, who organized the sale. “Whenever he saw an opportunity to buy the things he loved, he bought.”
Koch’s collection, which will be broken up into about 2,700 lots, is estimated to go for $10.5 million to $15 million.
More than 120 lots are from the coveted Chateau Latour, including one that consists of six 1961 magnums, which carries an estimate of $42,000 to $60,000. There are also more than 80 lots of Chateau Mouton Rothschild; one, composed of 10 bottles of Mouton’s 1945 vintage, is expected to sell for $80,000 to $120,000.
“That’s one of the most legendary wines,” Kriegel said. “It’s the wartime vintage, and it’s one of the greatest wines they’ve ever made. To see it on such a scale is pretty spectacular.”
The Sotheby’s sale came about for a simple reason: Koch simply had too much of a good thing.
“He realized he could never get through all of this wine,” Kriegel said.
In a statement announcing the sale, Koch echoed that sentiment: “With around 43,000 bottles, I could not possibly consume everything in my cellar, so I am delighted to offer this selection to allow collectors all over the world to enjoy the glorious moments that come with these wines,” he wrote.
