Thieves with fine palates and expensive tastes have struck one of Italy's highest-profile wine producers.
Masked men broke into the Cantine Marchese Antinori storage facility in Cortona and stole around 30,000 bottles from the high-end Tuscan winery producer.
The haul was estimated to be worth US$5.8 and was Italy's most lucrative wine heist.
The stolen wines were all from 2023 and included some of the region’s most iconic labels, news hub the drinks business reported.
Around seven bandits disabled the alarm system and surveillance cameras before using the winery’s own forklifts to load two trucks with bottles. The theft happened on a Saturday but was was only discovered by staff on Monday.
The stolen wines have retail prices of between €150 and €500 and include Solaia, Tignanello and Guado al Tasso, all flagship “Super Tuscan” reds.
"The gang was very prepared,” said Renzo Cotarella, chief executive of Marchesi Antinori, which was founded in 1385 and is run by the 26th generation of the family.
“A theft of this scale and value has never happened before in Italy.”
He said he had “great confidence” that investigators would locate the stolen wine.
