Masked thieves steal 30,000 wine bottles in record heist

A gang of masked thieves stole about 30,000 bottles of premium wine, valued at roughly 5 million euros ($5.8 million), from a Marchesi Antinori warehouse near Cortona, Tuscany, the winery said Friday. The company called it the largest wine theft on record in Italy.reuters+1

The break-in happened over the weekend of Oct. 3–4 and was found Monday morning when staff arrived at the site. Antinori waited until Friday to go public so it would not interfere with the investigation. No arrests have been made.apnews+2

A three-hour operation

Surveillance footage showed at least seven masked men entering the facility in the province of Arezzo and switching off its alarm system. Chief Executive Renzo Cotarella said they also disabled the cameras, then drove in with two large trucks and loaded them using the company's own forklifts. Lorenzo Vivoli, a spokesperson for the company, told The New York Times that the raid lasted about three hours. Because the alarm never went off, he suspects someone with inside knowledge may have been involved.nytimes+2

The bottles had been boxed for a shipment to foreign distributors, which made them quick to remove. "They had impeccable timing," Vivoli said. He noted that shipments like this happen only once or twice a year.reuters+2

All of the stolen wine was from the 2023 vintage and normally sells for 150 to 500 euros a bottle. The haul included Solaia, Tignanello and Guado al Tasso. Roughly 10,000 of the bottles were Solaia, a wine produced at only 60,000 to 70,000 bottles a year. Vivoli said the winery's insurance will cover only about one-tenth of the loss.apnews+2

Hopes for recovery

"It is certainly a very well-prepared gang," Cotarella said, adding that it may be the same group behind other recent raids on Italian wineries. "A theft of this size and value has never occurred in Italy." He told Corriere della Sera that Tuscany's roads are full of cameras, so the bottles may still be traced: "Two trucks full of merchandise can't just disappear into thin air."bbc+1

Police and Carabinieri officers are reviewing the footage. The company, founded in 1385 and exporting to 170 countries, is warning clients worldwide to be wary of offers that come outside official sales channels.apnews+1

A string of heists

The theft follows a series of break-ins at Italian wineries. In July, thieves hit the Banfi winery in Montalcino. In mid-September, about 3,000 bottles of Barolo worth 300,000 to 400,000 euros were stolen from the Conterno Fantino estate in Piedmont. Before this week, the largest wine theft on record in Italy took place in 2017, when about 2,000 bottles valued at 750,000 euros were taken near Cervia.beveragedaily+2

Asked whether the thieves might simply drink the wine themselves, Vivoli laughed: "You would need quite a few thieves for that."nytimes