Thieves have made off with 30,000 bottles of wine worth €5 million ($5.6 million) from a prestigious winery in Tuscany, in what is believed to be the largest wine heist in Italian history. Marchesi Antinori said a shipment of some of Italy’s most sought-after wines disappeared before it could reach buyers abroad. Its chief executive described the robbery as unprecedented.
The theft took place on Saturday (Oct 3) at the company’s storage facility in central Italy. It went unnoticed until staff arrived at the premises on Monday (Oct 5) morning.
A carefully planned operation
At least seven masked men are believed to have carried out the job after disabling the alarm system and surveillance cameras. They then used the company’s own forklifts to load the bottles onto two large trucks and drove away.
The stolen consignment included Tignanello, Solaia and Guado al Tasso, three of the winery’s best-known red wines. They are especially popular with collectors, with prices ranging from €120 to €400 a bottle depending on the vintage.
Renzo Cotarella, chief executive of Marchesi Antinori, told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that the scale of the theft was unprecedented. “A theft of this scale and value has certainly never occurred in Italy,” he said.
“Two trucks can’t disappear into thin air”
Cotarella said he hoped investigators would be able to trace the stolen consignment, pointing to the extensive camera coverage on Tuscan roads.
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“Two trucks full of merchandise can’t just disappear into thin air,” he said. “The Tuscan roads are full of cameras; perhaps with a bit of luck we’ll be able to recover at least some of the bottles stolen from us.”
The winery believes the choice of wines suggests the thieves had considerable knowledge of the products and their value. The stolen bottles were reportedly meant for export.
Wine thefts raise concerns
Founded in 1385, Marchesi Antinori is one of Italy’s best-known family-owned wine producers and exports to around 170 countries.
The robbery comes amid a string of wine thefts across Italy. In September, around 3,000 bottles of Barolo were reportedly stolen in the northern Piedmont region, with losses estimated at several hundred thousand euros.
No arrests have been reported in the Antinori case, and the investigation continues. The company has urged customers to be cautious about offers of its wines outside authorised sales channels.
