Quantity and Quality

The phrase apres-ski conjures up crowded bars, the sudden, fierce glow of a shot of schnapps, voices straining over blaring music and melting ice puddling around snow boots. But in the tiny village of St. Christoph, 1,800 m up in Austria's famed Arlberg skiing region, the family-owned five-star Hospiz Hotel and nearby Hospiz Alm ski lodge offer a more refined way to kick back after a day on the slopes. Together they boast one of the world's prime collections of Bordeaux—much of it in large-format bottles.

Some of these babies range upward of an eye- and cork-popping...