Thieves stole 30 thousand bottles of elite wine from a historical winery

In Italy, unknown persons committed the largest theft of wine in the country's history, taking about 30 thousand bottles from the storage of a historic winery in Tuscany. CNN reports this.

The theft occurred on the night of October 3 at the Marchesi Antinori estate near the town of Cortona in the province of Arezzo. A group of at least seven masked people turned off the alarm and surveillance cameras and then got inside. Using the winery's own forklifts, the criminals loaded two large trucks with wine and fled. The crime was discovered only on the morning of Monday, October 5, when employees came to work. The company reported the incident only on Friday so as not to interfere with the investigation.

According to the general director of Marchesi Antinori, Renzo Cotarella, the total value of the stolen goods is about five million euros (approximately 540 million rubles). The stolen bottles included Solaia, Tignanello and Guado al Tasso wines from the 2023 harvest. In retail, such bottles are usually sold at prices ranging from 150 to 500 euros. Of particular value are approximately 10 thousand bottles of the elite Solaia, one of the company’s flagship wines, which, according to Cotarella, was produced in an exceptionally successful year.

“This is certainly a very well-trained gang,” Cotarella said, adding that it may be the same group that has carried out attacks on other Italian wineries in recent months. The company, founded in 1385 and run by the Antinori family for 26 generations, has warned customers around the world to beware of offers to sell wine outside official distribution channels.

Police and carabinieri are studying CCTV footage and other evidence. Cotarella expressed confidence that the cargo could be tracked: “Two trucks with goods cannot just disappear into thin air. Tuscan roads are full of cameras - perhaps with a bit of luck we will be able to return at least some of the bottles.”