Thieves in Italy Steal 30,000 Bottles of Wine Worth €5 Million
Thieves in Italy have pulled off what may be the country's biggest wine heist ever, making off with about 30,000 bottles of some of Tuscany's most prized wines, worth an estimated €5 million, or more than $5 million.
The theft targeted a cellar owned by Marchesi Antinori, one of Italy's oldest and most famous winemakers, in the town of Cortona in the province of Arezzo, according to Italian media reports.
How the Heist Happened
The break-in happened overnight on Sunday, October 4, and was discovered the next morning when staff arrived for work, Wanted in Rome reported.
The thieves switched off the alarm system and disabled the cameras covering both the inside of the cellar and its perimeter. They then drove in with two large trucks and used the winery's own forklifts to load up the bottles before driving away.
Investigators believe at least seven people took part in the operation, according to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. No arrests have been reported.
Some of Italy's Most Coveted Wines
The stolen bottles were all from the 2023 vintage and included three of Antinori's best-known labels: Solaia, Tignanello and Guado al Tasso. The wines typically sell for about €120 to €300 a bottle.
Around 10,000 of the stolen bottles were reportedly Solaia, a highly sought-after red that Antinori first produced in 1978 and makes only in exceptional vintages. The winery produces just 60,000 to 70,000 bottles of Solaia a year, meaning the thieves took a large share of an entire year's supply.
Tignanello and Solaia are considered among the original "Super Tuscans," a style of red wine that blends Tuscany's traditional Sangiovese grapes with international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines helped put modern Italian winemaking on the global map and are prized by collectors around the world.
Corriere della Sera reported that the company's insurance did not cover a loss this large, since a theft of this scale had been considered unthinkable.
"A Very Well-Prepared Gang"
Antinori CEO Renzo Cotarella said the thieves were "certainly a very well-prepared gang" and suggested they may be the same group behind other recent thefts at Italian wineries.
He also said a theft of this size and value had never happened in Italy before. Still, Cotarella said he was confident at least some of the wine could be found. "Two trucks full of goods cannot simply disappear into thin air," he said, noting that Tuscany's roads are heavily covered by cameras, Euronews reported.
Police have not publicly identified any suspects. The company has warned customers around the world to be cautious of any offers to buy its wines from outside official sales channels.
A String of Wine Thefts
The Antinori heist comes just weeks after another high-profile theft in Italy. In mid-September, thieves stole 3,000 bottles of Barolo worth €300,000 to €400,000 from the Conterno Fantino estate in Monforte d'Alba, in the Piedmont region.
Before the Antinori theft, the record for an Italian wine heist was set in 2017, when 2,000 bottles valued at €750,000 were stolen from a warehouse in Cervia.
The brazen theft is the latest in a series of daring European heists targeting high-value goods. Last year, thieves made off with priceless jewels from the Louvre in Paris, and police later arrested several suspects in that case.
Founded in 1385 and based in Florence, Marchesi Antinori is now run by the 26th generation of the family, making it one of the oldest family-owned wine businesses in the world.
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