According to The Guardian, thieves have carried out what Italian media are calling the largest wine theft ever recorded in Italy, emptying a Marchesi Antinori warehouse in Cortona, in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany.
Around 30,000 bottles were taken, with an estimated value of about €5 million (roughly $5.8 million). The haul consisted of three of Italy’s most sought-after labels — Solaia, Tignanello and Guado al Tasso — and between 8,000 and 10,000 of the stolen bottles were Solaia alone.
Surveillance cameras recorded at least seven masked people entering the facility over the weekend. They disabled the alarm system, then used the company’s own forklifts to load pallets onto two trucks before driving away. The theft was not discovered until Monday 5 October, when employees arrived to find the warehouses almost empty.
The Carabinieri are investigating. Police in Cortona said an extensive manhunt is under way, but would not say whether they believe the two vehicles used in the theft are still in Italy.
In a statement, Marchesi Antinori said: “Given the scale of the theft, both in terms of the number of bottles stolen and their estimated market value, the incident may rank among the largest wine thefts ever reported. The investigation by the competent authorities is ongoing, as are the assessments required to determine the precise extent of the theft.”
The company has warned customers worldwide to treat with suspicion any offer of these wines that does not come through official sales channels — a realistic concern, since a quantity this large is almost impossible to sell without surfacing somewhere on the grey market. Antinori says it still hopes to recover the bottles.
Founded on a family wine business that dates back to 1385, Marchesi Antinori is among the oldest wine producers in the world and exports to roughly 170 countries. Tignanello and Solaia are the two labels that effectively created the Super Tuscan category in the 1970s.
