William I. Koch: The Great American Wine Collector

Underneath William I. Koch’s Palm Beach estate is a wine cellar unlike any other in the United States — and arguably the world. It resembles a climate-controlled cathedral with vaulted stone ceilings. It’s an architectural marvel, echoing the style of an old European cellar, and constructed by a team of artisanal stone masons from Austria who brought over the materials from Europe and assembled the cellar brick by brick. Finished with fragments of ancient Roman mosaics, it’s filled with thousands of bottles of the rarest and most legendary wines in existence, and just as many stories.   

From 12 – 14 June 2025, Christie’s will present a historic three-day sale, The Cellar of William I. Koch: The Great American Collector, at its Rockefeller Center headquarters, marking the return of Christie’s Wine to New York. Over three days, nearly 8,000 bottles will be offered from Mr. Koch’s cellar, with a combined low estimate of $15,000,000.

‘Mr. Koch is one of a kind — an icon — in the world of wine whose impact on the story of fine wine collecting is profound and lasting. His vision and dedication to building one of the greatest wine collections of our time will leave a legacy for decades to come,’ says Adam Bilbey, Christie’s Global Head of Wine & Spirits. ‘It brings him great joy to share both his story and his wines with a new generation of collectors.’

Mr. Koch has spent considerable time in his cellar, perusing and examining, researching and discussing, these fabled wines. Arranged by region, producer and then vintage, no detail is left unconsidered. Along the left side are meticulously arranged racks housing the great producers of Burgundy, such as Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Domaine Henri Jayer. Along the right are the classic icons of Bordeaux, including Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Mouton Rothschild, Château Latour and Petrus. At the end of each row are columns of even rarer large formats. And at the very end of the cellar is a locked iron cage containing the scarcest bottles of all — including vintages dating back some 200 years. 

A carved white marble bust of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine (who often draws associations with joy, and the cycle of death and rebirth, as witnessed in the annual regrowth of a vineyard), surveys the underground scene. The collection is testament to what mankind can achieve with the fruit of the vine, and its breadth and depth of iconic wines is unrivalled. 

‘Building — and then drinking — this cellar has been one of my life’s greatest joys,’ says Mr. Koch. ‘But it doesn’t take a a rocket scientist to know there is more down here than I could ever drink, even if I threw a party every night. So, the time has come to let others share in some of the pleasure I’ve taken from it.’ 

Wine as a way of life 

What does it take to be one of America’s greatest collectors? Some people might say passion, time, knowledge, space and a fortune. Mr. Koch has all of these. But he also has something else that gives him the edge: a tenacious determination to never do things by halves. 

By way of demonstration: After developing a taste for 20th century art he sought out a Modigliani reclining nude, one of Monet’s water lily paintings and a masterpiece from Picasso’s Blue Period, Nightclub Singer. Passionate about American history, he amassed a staggering collection of Old West memorabilia and built a historic Western town on his sprawling estate in Colorado. And as a keen sailor, after sailing to America’s Cup victory in 1992, he has put together one of the most significant America’s Cup collections in the US including fine scale models of every boat that has sailed in the Cup from 1851 until the present day.

Mr. Koch’s love affair with wine began in the 1960s, when he was studying for a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, following in the footsteps of his father, the industrialist Fred C. Koch. 

After college years spent drinking commonplace wine with his fraternity, he started to experiment with ordering more expensive bottles at restaurants. By the following decade he had begun to acquire a moderate selection, but it was in the 1980s, after Mr. Koch founded his energy company, Oxbow Carbon, that he cultivated his interest into a deep passion.   

Back then, says Mr. Koch, ‘the price of a nice Petrus, Mouton, Lafite or Latour wasn’t beyond the means of a recent graduate with a relatively modest income.’ With this in mind, he bought as much as he could, and began collecting vintage wines — always aiming for a complete set. ‘Bill had great foresight,’ adds Bilbey. ‘He was collecting in an era when, with passion, vision and means, it was still possible to acquire significant quantities of the world’s most historic and collectible wines. He was buying large volumes of wines such as Domaine de la Romanée Conti well before it was as widely sought after and recognised as it is today.’

Mr. Koch’s collection grew and grew, through patience, conviction and a ‘dash of good fortune.’ And while his upbringing on a Wichita ranch and background in chemistry gave him an understanding of the science of soil, he says collecting is an artform led as much by the heart as the head.  

‘Great wines make you feel special with every sip. You can taste the love, knowledge and toil that the vintner poured into the bottle on their quest for perfection,’ says Mr. Koch. ‘Each one is a time capsule of what happened in this vineyard, in this year.’ 

This combination of head and heart forged an intuition that became catalytic. Just over a decade ago he began to suspect that four bottles of wine with the initials of Thomas Jefferson engraved on the bottles, which he had paid $400,000 in the 1980s, were counterfeit. He assembled a team of former agents from the FBI, CIA, MI6 and Scotland Yard, alongside glue experts, label printers, cork chemists and nuclear physicists who could analyse a wine’s chemical composition. It cost him millions of dollars, but as a result it raised industry standards and secured better protection for future collectors.

The Cellar

Owning over 18,000 bottles, Mr. Koch — who already pruned his cellar in 1999, then again in 2016, selling some 20,000 bottles at the latter — believes it’s time for the next generation to enjoy the spoils of his years of collecting.

Bilbey explains that among the most revered Bordeaux and Burgundy wines from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries being offered at Christie’s are a Château Cheval Blanc 1947, Margaux 1953, Petrus 1982, Latour 1959 en magnum and a six-litre methuselah of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche 1996. ‘That’s 54 glasses of one of the greatest wines on planet earth,’ he adds.

Other regions are covered with the most iconic of producers too. The Rhône is represented by Jean-Louis Chave; Piedmont by Giacomo Conterno and Angelo Gaja; Spain by Vega Sicilia; Australia by Penfolds and Napa Valley by Harlan Estate and Screaming Eagle. The great sweet white wines from Bordeaux are led by Château d’Yquem.

The sale may mark the closing of a golden era of wine collectors, but also opens doors for new ones. As Bilbey points out, the half bottles of Domaine Comte Georges De Vogüé Musigny 1988, and super seconds from Bordeaux such as 1982 Gruaud Larose, represent great value and are drinking superbly right now.

‘This volume of rare wines is simply unmatched, and these bottles have been lying dormant in perfect cellar conditions for decades,’ he states, going on to explain, ‘So many of these historic wines have been drunk by now or in the world we live in today, have moved around so often they’ve become fatigued. They’re increasingly hard to get hold of. Even the lesser vintages are becoming rare, as historically, people haven’t been so hesitant to drink them.

‘Bill’s story is incredible, and any collector would want a piece of his legacy — they truly don’t make them like this anymore,’ adds Bilbey.

Indeed, as Mr. Koch once remarked, ‘People often say to me, “Bill, you’re the custodian of these treasures. You are safeguarding them for future generations.” Most of the time, they’d be correct. But I don’t think that’s necessarily true of wine. It’s made to be opened and shared.’

Experience our state-of-the-art virtual recreation of William I. Koch’s Palm Beach cellar from 5 – 14 June 2025, during Luxury Week. From 12 – 14 June, Christie’s will present a historic three-day sale, The Cellar of William I. Koch, at our Rockefeller Center headquarters, marking the return of Christie’s Wine to New York.