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Coastline Connoisseur: A Single Owner Cellar, New York, April 11 - April 23

Click here to download Coastline Connoisseur Cellar Highlights
Click here to download a spreadsheet of the auction lots

Zachys is proud to present an incredible single-owner cellar representing a lifetime of passionate, studied, and focused collecting. This sale has the perfect wine for every occasion with extra points for Burgundy aficionados, ranging from age-worthy DRC to ready-to-drink village wines. For those with palates that wander away from the Cote d’Or, this cellar meets the need with the rarest of Californians hailing from the heydays of the 60’s and ’70s, extending to an eye-widening pristine case of 1982 Latour in magnum, and more.

The story of this consignor could fill a book. Every conversation delightfully drifts into a history lesson on the early days of California winemaking, or an in-depth discussion of the merits of the various vineyards in Vosne. Our consignor caught the wine bug early in his life while working in advertising and his curiosity propelled him into the cellars of Napa when Highway 29 was still a dirt road (figuratively). He recalls the days when you could pick up the phone and call Joe Heitz and Chuck Wagner and Dick Steltzner. Today he can still rattle off the yields for what would become the first vintage of Phelps Insignia (an astounding 10.2 tons per acre!) or tell you how much Chenin Blanc was in the famed ’74 Villa Mount Eden (7%) that Nils Venge had to add to the Cabernet to jump-start a stuck fermentation. Possessed with an extraordinary memory, he was able to amass encyclopedic knowledge in a short amount of time just by asking questions, showing up early and often, and buying in depth. He made strategic bets on excellent vintages like ’74 California Cabs and purchased an astounding 10 cases of the Heitz Martha’s 1974 before it was even released to market. 

 Nils Venge, a close friend of the consignor, labeled him as “extraordinarily meticulous.” Our consignor laughs recalling this: “This was a nice way of saying that I was neurotic.” Indeed, all of these early purchases from Napa were picked up and immediately transported by hand down to a temperature and humidity-controlled cellar, somewhat of a rarity in the mid 70’s. The consignor would then line up all the bottles and rate them one through twelve based on minuscule differences in fill level. Number twelve would be consumed first, leaving the best fills to age longer. As the recipient of more bottles that we can count over decades of drinking together, I can confidently recommend that you want to buy your wines from the cellar of a neurotic, as nearly every single bottle has shown far younger than counterparts.

Our consignor wasn’t merely a trophy hunter. He loves village level Burgundies as much as the Grand Crus and finds intellectual interest in these more “entry-level wines.” A true academic, he found his way to Burgundy and never left, amassing several thousand bottles one by one. Nearly 90% of the wines in his collection are from Burgundy and he can tell you where he bought each one. It's important to note that in the early 90’s, Burgundy didn’t hold cult-like fascination for wine lovers as it does now. If you had strong relationships with proven retailers, when they received their allocations of DRC, you could buy what your cellar could hold. It boggles the mind today, but at one point our consignor owned five cases of 1990 La Tache purchased directly on release. 

Having become close friends with some legendary restauranteurs in Los Angeles in the early 90’s, our consignor helped build several wine lists in exchange for free dinners. He sharpened his palate by working with trade reps and attending industry events where he could taste hundreds of wines at a time. Over time our consignor became a big supporter of charitable causes, leveraging his relationships with chefs and trade to organize wine dinners and auction events which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Though nearly 4,000 bottles are on offer for lucky bidders in this sale, this is a small portion of his overall collection. Our consignor has enjoyed an active cellar for many decades and has been able to drink every great wine in the world on multiple occasions. Stacks of cases are also still on hold for future charity donations. Highlights include bottles of Leroy Chambertin and Romanee-Conti, as well as a gorgeous case of 1982 Latour magnums. Verticals of vineyards and producers echo the focused and consistent buying methods of our consignor.

Provenance and storage are, in a word, as good as it gets. Original receipts stacked high document the source and price of nearly every single bottle. Packing up the cellar was a journey through California retail history as each case came with a story of why it was purchased, from whom, and for how much. Often a detailed tasting note and suggested food pairing were included! Almost all wines were sourced on release, either directly from the producers in California or from local retailers, and were removed from Ideal 55, one of the best professional storage facilities in Southern California.

It should be said that in all of our years of advising and working with collectors, there isn’t a kinder, more thoughtful one to be found. Every dinner with him includes a birthday vintage sourced from his cellar, and often one for a spouse for good measure. His prodigious memory stores more wine trivia than we’ll forget in a lifetime, and yet he still remembers important personal interests and milestones without fail. It is a tremendous pleasure to bring this important and beloved cellar to market.