Thieves in Italy target prestigious winemaker, making off with €5 million haul

Thieves in Italy struck a prestigious winemaker, absconding with a €5 million cache of 30,000 wine bottles, according to Italian media reports. A group of at least seven individuals carried out the brazen heist at a winery operated by the Marchesi Antinori company in Cortona, Italy. The raid took place over the weekend, targeting bottles of Solaia, Tignanello, and Guado al Tasso, as reported by the Corriere della Sera.

The thieves arrived in two large trucks and reportedly disabled the alarm system and cameras at the site. Renzo Cotarella, CEO of Marchesi Antinori, told the outlet that the gang appeared well-prepared. The executive added that the theft was unprecedented in Italy, emphasizing that a theft of this scale and value had never occurred in the country before.

Cotarella expressed confidence that at least some of the recovered bottles could be returned to their rightful owners. He noted that two trucks full of goods cannot simply vanish without a trace, given that the roads in Tuscany are heavily monitored by cameras. The thieves are believed to have taken up to 10,000 bottles of the highly sought-after Solaia label, first produced by the Antinori family in 1978.

This wine is produced only in exceptional vintage years, when the harvest and grape quality meet the producer's exacting standards, commanding hundreds of euros per bottle.

The Antinori company, which dates back to 1385 and is one of Italy's most renowned winemakers, has reportedly warned customers to be cautious of offers of its wines coming from outside of official channels.