30,000 bottles of fine Italian wine stolen in $5.8M heist

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Thieves made away with nearly 30,000 bottles of some of Italy’s finest wine, worth an estimated $5.8 million, from a Tuscan winery, CBS reported. The producer says it’s the largest wine theft on record in Italy’s history.

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The unprecedented heist targeted the facility of centuries-old wine-making company Marchesi Antinori near Cortona in the province of Arezzo, where at least seven thieves got their hands on high-end wines worth millions.

Thieves ‘well-prepared’: CEO

CEO Renzo Cotarella said the thieves knew what they were doing. They disabled the alarm system and surveillance cameras. They then entered with two large trucks and used company forklifts to load up the wine and make a getaway into the night.

Cotarella said this could be a gang connected to other recent wine thefts. Wine Spectator reported in July that crooks made off with 3,300 bottles of sparkling wine worth $110,000 from a facility in Piedmont belonging to another prestigious Italian winemaker, Castello Banfi.

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“It is certainly a very well-prepared gang,” Cotarella said. “A theft of this size and value has never occurred in Italy.”

The good stuff

The bottles stolen from Marchesi Antinori were from the 2023 vintage, what Cotarella called an exceptional year. They include Tiganello, Guado al Tasso and Solaia, one of Antinori’s best-known wines. Such bottles retail between $168 to $560 each.

Marchesi Antinori said it discovered the theft last Monday, but kept it quiet until Friday so Italian authorities could get a jump on the investigation. Police and Carabinieri are currently investigating the surveillance footage and other evidence. Cotarella noted the shipment can be tracked, and that two truckloads of high-end wine would not be easy to just quietly move.

The winemaker also urged customers make note of any wine they see getting sold through unofficial channels.

“We are informing our clients around the world and asking them to pay attention to any offers outside the official channels,” Cotarella said.

The Italian Jobs

Italy has seen large-scale wine heists before, but this is the biggest one yet. In 2017, 2,000 bottles of rare wine valued at $840,000 were stolen from a warehouse near Cervia, a resort town on the Adriatic Sea.