Around 30,000 bottles of fine wine, valued at about €5 million, were stolen last weekend from a warehouse belonging to the Marchesi Antinori family estate in Tuscany. According to the company, the thieves disabled the alarm and drove off with the pallets in two lorries. The theft was reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP), Corriere della Sera and the Financial Times.
Details of the theft
The theft took place between 3 and 4 October at the Santa Cristina cellar in Cortona, in central Italy. A spokesperson for the Florence-based winery, whose history dates back to 1385, gave the details to AFP.
“This is our most important warehouse, where (...) all the bottles arrive before being shipped,” the spokesperson said. The stolen consignment was destined for export and was already prepared for shipment.
According to the company, this made the thieves’ task easier. Five or six people disabled the alarm, entered the warehouse and took the 30,000 bottles, which were already stacked on pallets.
“Using two lorries, they loaded them and left,” the spokesperson added.
The theft was not discovered until Monday morning, when staff arrived for work.
The stolen wines
The stolen Tuscan reds were Guado al Tasso, Solaia and Tignanello. According to the spokesperson, they “are among our most iconic labels, which are certainly also highly sought after by collectors”.
A single bottle costs between €120 and more than €300.
“These are also (...) wines for ageing, so, in short, it was a very targeted robbery,” the Marchesi Antinori spokesperson said.
Possibly the largest wine theft in Italy
“We objectively believe that this is perhaps the largest theft, both in terms of number of bottles and in terms of value, that has occurred in Italy so far,” the winery said.
According to Corriere della Sera, it is the largest wine theft by value ever recorded in Italy.
Previous theft in Piedmont
In mid-September, another Italian winery, in Piedmont in the north-west, was robbed of around 3,000 bottles of Barolo. Barolo is the most sought-after red wine from northern Italy, and the stolen bottles were valued at several hundred thousand euros.
With information from AFP, Corriere della Sera and the Financial Times
