Thieves pull off Italy's biggest-ever wine heist, stealing 30,000 bottles worth 5 million euros

ROME (AP) — Thieves stole about 30,000 bottles of some of Italy’s most prized wines worth an estimated 5 million euros ($5.8 million) from a winery in Tuscany , in what the producer described Friday as the country's largest wine theft on record.

The theft targeted Marchesi Antinori’s facility near Cortona, in the province of Arezzo, where a group of at least seven thieves on Saturday night made off with bottles of some of Italy's most sought-after wines, including Solaia, Tignanello and Guado al Tasso. The theft was discovered Monday, but the company made it public on Friday to avoid interfering with the investigation.

Chief Executive Renzo Cotarella said the thieves disabled the winery’s alarm system and surveillance cameras before entering with two large trucks. Using the company’s forklifts, they loaded the vehicles with wine and fled during the night.

“It is certainly a very well-prepared gang,” Cotarella said, adding that it may be the same group that has targeted other Italian wineries in recent months. “A theft of this size and value has never occurred in Italy.”

The stolen bottles were all from the 2023 vintage and are typically sold at a retail price of between 150 euros and 500 euros each. They included about 10,000 bottles of Solaia, one of Antinori’s flagship wines, from what Cotarella described as an exceptional year.

The company, founded in 1385 and run by the Antinori family for 26 generations, said it was alerting customers worldwide to be wary of offers outside official sales channels.

“We are informing our clients around the world and asking them to pay attention to any offers outside the official channels,” Cotarella said.

Authorities are investigating how the stolen wine may be sold. Police and Carabinieri officers are examining surveillance footage and other evidence. Cotarella said he remained confident investigators could trace the shipment, noting that two truckloads of wine would be difficult to move without attracting attention.

The theft eclipses previous high-profile wine robberies in Italy. In 2017, thieves stole about 2,000 bottles of rare wines valued at 750,000 euros from a warehouse near the Adriatic resort town of Cervia.