30,000 bottles of wine stolen from Antinori winery in Tuscany
Thieves have stolen 30,000 bottles of wine from a storage facility of Marchesi Antinori, one of Italy’s biggest family-owned wineries, in Tuscany. The theft took place on Saturday, but it wasn’t discovered until Monday morning when staff arrived on site. The stolen wine is worth about €5m (£4.2m).
At least seven masked men are believed to have deactivated alarms, disabled cameras, and used company forklifts to load two large trucks. The company was preparing to ship the consignment to customers abroad. The stolen wines include Tignanello, Solaia, and Guado al Tasso Tuscan reds, which usually sell for between €150 and €500 each.
Renzo Cotarella, the chief executive, told Corriere della Sera: “A theft of this scale and value has certainly never occurred in Italy.” He added that two trucks full of merchandise can’t just disappear, and expressed hope that authorities will trace the stolen wine. The company believes the selection of bottles suggests the thieves were wine connoisseurs with inside knowledge. No arrests have been made.
