Thieves Steal 30,000 Bottles of Fine Wine From Antinori Winery in Tuscany

Approximately 30,000 bottles of prestigious Italian red wine, valued at roughly €5 million, were stolen from a Marchesi Antinori storage facility in Tuscany.

The heist occurred on a Saturday while the winery was preparing to ship a consignment to international customers, though staff did not discover the theft until Monday morning. According to BBC News, at least seven masked men are believed to have deactivated alarms and disabled security cameras at the facility. The New York Times reported that as many as 10 men may have been involved in the operation.

The thieves utilized company forklifts to load two large trucks with prized Tuscan reds, including Tignanello, Solaia, and Guado al Tasso. Individual bottles of these wines typically sell for between €150 and €500. Renzo Cotarella, chief executive of Marchesi Antinori, told Corriere della Sera that a theft of this scale and value has never previously occurred in Italy.

Cotarella expressed hope that authorities could trace the shipment, noting that two trucks full of merchandise are difficult to hide on camera-lined Tuscan roads. He also questioned how such a large volume of high-value wine could be sold globally without detection. The company suggested the thieves likely had inside knowledge and a refined understanding of wine given the specific bottles selected.

While local authorities continue to investigate, no arrests have been made. The International homepage noted that Antinori is alerting potential buyers to protect the market from the stolen inventory. The winery, which was founded in 1385, exports its products to 170 countries and reported a revenue of €263 million last year.

Background

The heist follows a series of wine thefts in Italy this year, including two incidents in the northern Piedmont region where hundreds of thousands of euros worth of wine were taken.