Thieves steal 30,000 bottles of Antinori wine from Tuscan warehouse, worth 5 million euros

The theft

Thieves stole around 30,000 bottles of wine worth an estimated 5 million euros from a warehouse run by Marchesi Antinori near Cortona, in the Arezzo province of Tuscany. The company made the theft public on Friday 9 October, although staff discovered it on Monday morning when they arrived at the site. Renzo Cotarella, the company's managing director, told Corriere della Sera that it was the largest theft of this kind in Italy. The Cortona warehouse is the company's largest storage site, where bottles are gathered before they are dispatched, according to a company representative. Sources place the theft at the weekend before the announcement, and the New York Times dates it to the evening of 2 October. Marchesi Antinori is based in Florence, was founded in 1385 and exports to 170 countries, according to the BBC.

How the thieves operated

Security footage shows seven or eight masked men loading wine into two trucks, with two more men acting as drivers, according to Lorenzo Vivoli, who handles communications for the company and spoke to the New York Times. Other outlets give lower counts, with 20 Minuten reporting five or six perpetrators and Tages Anzeiger reporting at least seven thieves. The thieves reportedly used the company's own forklifts to load the vehicles, and the vehicles carried false number plates. The warehouse alarm did not go off, which led Vivoli to suspect the involvement of 'someone from the inside'. The bottles were ready to be shipped on Monday morning, and such dispatches happen only once or twice a year.

Vivoli said the timing suggested the thieves had inside knowledge.

They got the perfect timing. It's almost like they knew.

Stolen wines and their value

The thieves took Tignanello, Solaia and Guado al Tasso, all red wines from the 2023 vintage according to Tages Anzeiger. Solaia is the best-known label in the haul, with DW citing 8,000 to 10,000 bottles of it while Tages Anzeiger puts the figure at about 10,000. Retail prices are reported as 150 to 500 euros a bottle by Tages Anzeiger and the BBC, and as 120 to 300 euros or more by 20 Minuten, depending on the vintage. The stolen wines are among the company's most prized labels, and the bottles were stored for export to customers in France and the United States, according to Piero Antinori.

Investigation and insurance

Police in Cortona are investigating, and no arrests have been made. Cotarella said he was confident the stolen bottles could be traced, because moving two truckloads of wine without attracting attention is difficult. Piero Antinori, the company's patron, told La Nazione that the theft was probably commissioned and that he was fairly optimistic the wine could be recovered.

They had to know in advance where to place all this wine.

According to Vivoli, the company's insurance is meant to cover smaller thefts and will pay only about one-tenth of the price. Each bottle carries a small authentication label, but the shipment had no tracking system.

A wave of wine thefts

The BBC reports that Italy has seen a wave of wine thefts this year, including two in the Piedmont region in the north of the country. DW reports that recent cases have involved large stocks held at wineries, rather than the restaurants and private cellars that were typical targets. Last month, 3,000 bottles of Barolo were stolen in Piedmont, a loss put at several hundred thousand euros. Cotarella said the gang may be the same one that has targeted other Italian wineries in recent months.