Thieves steal 30,000 bottles of fine Italian wine worth €5 million in Tuscany
A gang of masked thieves stole approximately 30,000 bottles of premium Italian wine worth an estimated €5 million ($5.8 million) from a warehouse belonging to historic Tuscan winemaker Marchesi Antinori, in what the company described as an unprecedented theft in Italy.
The robbery took place on October 3, while the company was preparing a shipment of wine for export, according to the BBC, citing Italian media. Employees discovered the theft when they arrived at the warehouse on Monday morning.
At least seven masked men reportedly disabled the alarm system and surveillance cameras before using forklifts to load the wine onto two trucks.
The stolen bottles included some of the company's best-known red wines, such as Tignanello, Solaia and Guado al Tasso, with individual bottles valued at between €150 and €500.
Marchesi Antinori CEO Renzo Cotarella told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that Italy had never previously experienced a wine theft of such scale and value.
“Two trucks full of goods cannot simply disappear into thin air,” Cotarella said, expressing hope that surveillance cameras along Tuscan roads could help investigators recover at least some of the stolen wine.
Speaking to the Financial Times, he questioned how the thieves could sell such a large quantity of valuable wine without attracting attention.
The company suspects that the perpetrators may have had specialist knowledge of wine or access to inside information, although no such involvement has been established.
Founded in 1385, Marchesi Antinori is one of Italy's oldest winemaking businesses. It exports wine to approximately 170 countries and reported revenue of €263 million last year.