Marchesi Antinori Hit by €5m Theft of 30,000 Wine Bottles

What changed

About 30,000 bottles of premium wine were stolen on Saturday from Marchesi Antinori’s storage facility in Tuscany, just before an export shipment. The haul included Tignanello, Solaia and Guado al Tasso, wines that typically sell for €150 to €500 a bottle and are collectively valued at about €5m.

The theft is being described as Italy’s largest wine theft by value and scale. The bottles were discovered missing on Monday morning; no arrests have been made.

Why it matters

This was not a random smash-and-grab. At least seven masked men are believed to have disabled alarms and cameras, then used the winery’s own forklifts to load two large trucks. Antinori believes the choice of wines may point to inside knowledge, though that remains uncertain.

The immediate problem is control of the stolen stock. Antinori exports to 170 countries, so the bottles could be scattered across overseas distribution channels if they are not recovered. The company says it hopes cameras along Tuscan roads will help authorities trace the trucks and recover at least some of the wine.

For Antinori, founded in 1385 and reporting €263m in revenue last year, the loss is both financial and logistical. Its chief executive said two trucks full of merchandise cannot simply disappear. Whether that proves true now depends on investigators finding where the shipment went before the bottles enter legitimate-looking markets.