Thieves Raid Tuscan Winery, Making Off With 30,000 Bottles Worth €5m
Story By Staff Reporter
Italian media report that thieves have carried off roughly 30,000 bottles of wine, valued together at around €5m (£4.2m), from a renowned winery in Italy.
Marchesi Antinori, among the country’s largest family-run wine producers, said the break-in happened on Saturday at its Tuscan storage site, just as staff were getting a shipment ready for overseas customers.
Authorities believe a gang of at least seven masked men switched off the alarms, put the cameras out of action, and used the winery’s own forklifts to fill two big trucks with its sought-after Tuscan reds, including Tignanello, Solaia and Guado al Tasso.
Chief executive Renzo Cotarella told Corriere della Sera that no theft of this size or value had ever been recorded in Italy.
He expressed optimism that investigators could track down the wine. “Two trucks loaded with goods can’t simply vanish,” he said, noting that Tuscany’s roads are covered by cameras and that, with some luck, part of the haul might be recovered.
Speaking to the Financial Times, he said the wines are extremely valuable and he couldn’t see how the thieves could sell so much of it internationally without drawing attention.
The company suspects the thieves were wine experts with inside knowledge, given the bottles chosen typically retail for between €150 and €500 each.
Staff only discovered the theft on Monday morning when they arrived for work. No one has been arrested so far.
Founded in 1385, Marchesi Antinori sells to 170 countries and reported revenue of €263m (£223m) last year.
Wine thefts have been frequent in Italy this year, including two in the northern region of Piedmont, where bottles worth hundreds of thousands of euros were reportedly stolen.
Reporting based on original coverage by BBC.
