How an original Silicon Valley pioneer curated a legendary, ‘ahead of the curve’ wine collection

It’s less than 100 miles from the modern metropolis of Silicon Valley to the tranquil hills of Napa Valley, but to most people they are worlds apart. For one of the most trailblazing American engineers and wine collectors of the 20th century, though, these two, seemingly contrary regions were in fact the perfect pairing.

On 5 June, Christie’s in New York is offering ‘The Exceptional Private Cellar of a Silicon Valley Pioneer’ — an entire, legendary wine collection that’s a direct reflection of its owner’s innovative spirit. The sale is part of Christie’s New York Luxury Week and will be held at Rockefeller Center.

‘As soon as I saw this cellar, which was built over half a century, I knew it was destined to go down in the annals of wine auction history,’ says Chris Munro, Vice President of Christie’s Wines and Spirits. ‘It checks every box: correct storage, outstanding condition, rare vintages from brilliant producers and this impeccable provenance.’

A tech world trailblazer

In 1964, after finishing at Princeton, the electrical engineering graduate drove his Chevrolet from New Jersey to California, where the booming electronics and defence industries were turning Santa Clara Valley into a revolutionary tech hub. Securing a job at the Paolo Alto headquarters of Hewlett-Packard, which had been founded in a nearby garage 25 years earlier, he helped build the company’s first ever computer.

Around the same time, he purchased a modest house at the end of a tree-covered track in the nearby rural town of Woodside, which many years later would become home to the leaders of Apple, Sony, Intel, Oracle, and more. Then he started to fill its cool basement with wine.

During weekends, he would make the hour-long journey to the newly established Ridge Vineyard, or to visit his friend Joe Heitz, the ground-breaking vintner who was ushering in Napa’s modern era — returning with cases of their latest vintages.

‘At the end of the 1960s, few people in the States were really drinking fine wine, let alone collecting it. It was all about bourbon and Martinis,’ explains Munro. ‘It’s at this point — around 1968 — when things in Napa start to take off. And he was part of this shift, there at the very beginning.’

Exceptional bottles stretching back seven decades

The collection still contains a number of rare, early bottlings. ‘There are 20 vintages of Heitz Cellar Martha’s Vineyard back as far as 1973. I’ve never seen that much of this benchmark Napa Cabernet before,’ continues Munro. ‘There is also an 11-bottle case of Ridge Vineyard Monte Bello from 1974 — a super famous year that is incredibly rare now.’

Combined with iconic wines from Inglenook between 1964-68, Mayacamas from 1974, Stags’ Leap from 1973 and Freemark Abbey from 1969, this is one of the greatest offerings of classic bottles from the nascent days of Californian wine-making ever to come to auction.

But the collector didn’t stop there. When his interests extended internationally, he became one of the earliest clients of the fledging merchant Kermit Lynch, who had opened his eponymous shop in the San Francisco Bay area in 1972.

‘He started buying Bordeaux and Burgundy prolifically, at a level that’s a much more recent invention,’ says Munro. ‘He was able to do this because back then, great wines didn’t cost nearly as much.’

Take a case of First Growth Bordeaux. It might be worth ten times what it was in the 1970s, he explains. Burgundy is even more extreme. ‘He was buying grand cru wines by the caseload from producers like Domaine Armand Rousseau and Domaine Dujac for perhaps as little as $50 each. Some of them now change hands for thousands of dollars per bottle. You didn’t have to be very rich to buy these wines, so you could collect with a different approach.’

A collection curated with ‘curiosity and intellect’

The forthcoming sale includes a significant collection of Bordeaux from across the celebrated 1966 vintage and Petrus and Château Lafleur from the 1960s and 1970s; exceptional Burgundy from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Meo-Camuzet, Domaine Georges Roumier, imported when few Americans were paying attention; and a full, unopened case of Gentaz-Dervieux Côte-Rôtie Côte Brune Cuvée Reservée from 1989, which Munro describes as a ‘unicorn from a bygone Rhône producer.’

There are also some stars of Italian wine, including eight bottles of Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Riserva Selezionata Brunate from 1985, and a ‘virtually unheard of’ full case of Bruno Giacosa Barolo Cru Vigna Rionda di Serralunga d'Alba from 1967. Then the sale concludes with rare whiskey, including a mythical Van Winkle Special Reserve Straight Bourbon 19-Years-Old, bottled for Corti Brothers.

‘This is a “single-owner collection” in the truest sense — these wines have only ever had one owner, and have never left this cellar since purchase,’ he continues. ‘Everything was impeccably stored, organised on utilitarian racks, lying down to keep the corks wet. We found cases that hadn’t been touched from as far back as the 1970s.’

Over the decades, the collector went on to file multiple technology patents, co-found several start-ups, and shape the direction of digital innovation as a venture capitalist. At the same time his cellar grew to perhaps as many as 20,000 bottles. And when space ran out, a bathroom was converted into more storage. After he passed away in 2025, Christie’s were asked to sell the remaining 6,814 bottles.

‘He was a classic, old-school collector, buying what he loved and sharing it with friends and family. It was never about money or investment. He approached his cellar the same way he approached his work; with curiosity and intellect,’ says Munro, adding that he left a vast pile of the labels each fastidiously removed from every case, laminated and filed.

‘Very few people have this type of collection, put together at this time. It’s so ahead of the curve,’ he continues. ‘If you were to write down of all the great wines you’d want for a modern cellar, you’d pretty much end up with this list. Everything in this sale is something people will want.’