At least seven masked men allegedly disabled security systems and used forklifts to load two trucks with prized Tuscan wines from Marchesi Antinori’s storage facility
Thieves have stolen around 30,000 bottles of wine worth an estimated €5 million ($5.6 million) from a renowned Italian winery in Tuscany, according to a BBC report, citing Italian media reports.
The theft took place on Saturday at a storage facility belonging to Marchesi Antinori, one of Italy’s largest family-owned wine producers, as the company prepared to dispatch an order to overseas customers.
At least seven masked men are suspected of carrying out the operation.
They allegedly disabled the security alarms and surveillance cameras before using the winery’s forklifts to load two large trucks with bottles of its prized Tuscan wines, including Tignanello, Solaia and Guado al Tasso.
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Renzo Cotarella, chief executive of Marchesi Antinori, described the incident as the biggest wine theft of its kind in Italy.
“A theft of this scale and value has certainly never occurred in Italy,” BBC quoted Cotarella as telling Corriere della Sera.
Cotarella expressed hope that investigators would be able to track down the stolen bottles and recover at least part of the consignment.
“Two trucks full of merchandise can’t just disappear into thin air. 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.”
Speaking to the Financial Times, he also questioned how the stolen wine could be sold without attracting attention.
“These wines have a great value and I don’t know how they can sell all this wine around the world without being seen.”
The winery believes the selection of bottles points to thieves with considerable knowledge of wine and possible insider information.
The stolen varieties typically retail for between €150 and €500 per bottle.
The theft came to light on Monday morning when employees arrived at the facility. No arrests have been reported.
Founded in 1385, Marchesi Antinori exports its wines to 170 countries. The company recorded revenue of €263 million (£223 million) last year.
The incident comes amid a series of wine thefts reported across Italy this year. Two separate incidents in the northern Piedmont region also saw bottles worth hundreds of thousands of euros reportedly stolen.
With inputs from agencies
