Bill Koch wines to be auctioned

A three-day sale, featuring 20,000 bottles in 2,700 lots from the cellar of billionaire wine collector Bill Koch, will be held in New York on 19-21 May. The sale is expected to fetch US $10.5-$15m.

Sotheby’s described Koch’s cellar as being ‘of almost unprecedented breadth and quality’, featuring top Bordeaux and Burgundy from some of the 20th century’s most highly regarded vintages.

Highlights include more than 125 lots of Château Latour, more than 100 lots of Château Lafite and more than 80 lots of Château Mouton Rothschild from vintages such as 1961, 1953 and 1945.

From Burgundy, there are more than 200 lots of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) wines, among them a six-litre bottle of Romanée-Conti 1995, estimated to fetch up to $100,000.

The sale also features a dozen bottles of Grange 1971.

‘My cellar is the result of nearly four decades of collecting,’ said Koch. ‘With around 43,000 bottles, I could not possibly consume everything.’