Adi Werner, Thierry Manoncourt and the world’s greatest collection of large-format Bordeaux

by Gemma Hadley

The sleepy hamlet of St Christoph lies at 1,800m above sea level. A town of just 25 buildings and a population of 40 permanent residents is as unlikely home to one of the largest private collections of Bordeaux in the world as one can imagine. Surrounded by dramatic peaks and alpine charm, in the heart of Austria’s Alberg region, it’s a snow-seeker’s paradise. Blanketed in powder from December to March, skiers flock here in pursuit of pristine slopes, off-piste adventures and alpine cuisine.

For the past 40 years, it’s also been the site that restauranteur Adi Werner has chosen to create his extraordinary ‘Weinwelt’, or wine world.

With over 7,000 large-format bottles, imperials of Château Margaux and Cheval Blanc adorn the cellar walls. Everything from magnums to 27-litre primats can be found in an adjoining room. Among them are jaw-dropping verticals of Premiers Crus and Super-Tuscans. The collection spans three centuries, with a bottle of 1858 Château d’Yquem marking the start of the cellar’s timeline.

Alpine cellar
Protected by iron gates, the cellar is located beneath the historic Hospiz Alm restaurant which Werner inherited from his father-in-law in 1964. Dating back to the 14th century, the Hospiz was built as a shelter for those trying to cross the treacherous Arlberg Mountain Pass. Since then, it has welcomed princesses, presidents and the Queen of the Netherlands.

With an appreciation of fine wine, Werner sought to expand the Hospiz’s wine list and create an Eden for wine lovers and alpine adventurers. In 1978, he embarked on what would become the first of many trips to Bordeaux.

As a nameless merchant and ‘man from the mountains’, Werner fought to be taken seriously and was turned away from many of the top estates. However, his fortunes changed when Thierry and Marie-France Manoncourt of Château Figeac hosted him during his stay.

Tsars choice
It was during this chance encounter that Werner felt a sudden passion not only for Bordeaux but also for the rare and revered large-format bottles. Thierry Manoncourt was the matchmaker. He took the young Austrian down to the Figeac cellar and showed him magnums from the 1800s. Manoncourt explained that at the time, it had been customary to produce large bottles of 12, 15 and 18 litres for the Russian Tsars. But after a revolution, World War I and the economic difficulties that followed, bigger bottles had fallen out of favour and demand had dropped.

Such large vessels have to be expertly filled by hand and are made from thicker glass. The volume of the bottles ensures that the wines are exposed to a lower ratio of air to wine, which supports a slower ageing process over the years. Werner fell in love with the rarity of large forms and their ability to ‘become finer and more elegant, as well as being able to show their complexity better’, he maintains.

Werner was determined to take some of these prodigious bottlings back to the Alps, and ‘In 1978, I managed to convince the first chateau – Hâut-Marbuzet in St Estèphe – to fill six large bottles for me.’

The following year, Château Figeac supplied their first large formats. Over the decades, Werner has established a close rapport with numerous producers, many of whom produce Jeroboams, Balthazars, and Nebuchadnezzars specifically for the Hospiz cellar.

The Wine Dome
In addition to the 7,000 large-format bottles, the collection includes over 60,000 standard-size bottles. With so many wines from top-growths, it would be easy to overlook the diversity of the Hospiz Alm collection.

Alongside Champagne and prestige cuvées, there is a vast offering of Austrian whites and reds from iconic producers, including Franz Hirtzberger, F.X. Pichler, Weingut Knoll and Johanneshof Reinisch.

While Adi continues to watch over the cellar, his son Florian Werner now runs the restaurant and hotel. Recent renovations have transformed the underground cellar space, and in 2022, the addition of ‘The Wine Dome’ was completed. Designed by renowned architect Gregor Eichinger, the space features sweeping curves of floor-to-ceiling wine bottles and a grand tasting table at the centre of the room.

At age 88, Adi Werner delves into his extensive collection of Bordeaux on an almost daily basis: ‘I would advise a wine collector not only to collect wine but, when the time has come, he should drink the wine and not just store and treasure it.’

In other words, in the world of wine collecting, don’t wait to seize the day.