Posted on 12/29/2023 2:22:19 AM PST by Libloather
Using reconnaissance and infiltration methods worthy of blockbuster heists or painstaking counterfeit operations, a growing number of criminals are making off with liquid gold by draining wineries of their finest vintages with elaborate schemes.
Last summer, thieves in Paris pulled off a caper worthy of a big-budget Hollywood film. Bandits drilled through the basement walls of a city wine collector's private cellar to make off with 300 bottles of rare wine, aged for decades and valued at $300,000.
The criminals used the sprawling Paris catacomb system to get close to the subterranean collection. Authorities believe they had specialized knowledge of the vast tunnel system that has left many explorers lost for days, per Wine Enthusiast.
Former Mexican beauty pageant contestant Priscila Lara Guevara spent months on the run after stealing over $1.6 million in valuable vintages from the Michelin-starred restaurant of a high-end hotel in Caceres, Spain.
Using a fake Swiss passport, she and her partner, Constantín Gabriel Dumitru, visited the restaurant three times before going on a private tour of their wine cellar. Hours later, the pair checked out of the hotel with the liquid payday, which included a single bottle of Chateau d’Yquem from 1806 valued at over $300,000, per Vice News.
The pair were brought to trial last March, per Town & Country. Although they pleaded not guilty, they were sentenced to four years and ordered to pay $800,000. The most expensive pilfered bottle still has yet to be recovered, per the outlet.
Most recently, in June of this year, a man who has yet to be apprehended made off with $600,000 of stolen product from Lincoln Fine Wines in Venice, California. The black hoodie-clad burglar cut a 5-by-3-foot hole in the roof of the building, per Town & Country and then rappelled...
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
These days it’s 3 buck Chuck.
It makes me glad I don’t drink anymore. Life is just that much lesss complicated.
Not that I could actually afford any of those wines…
I wan to watch the look on the guy's that actually drinks that. No spitting it out!
There are some 1989 Bordeaux and Burgundy that I wouldn't mind still having, but those are long gone now, and an 89 Romanée-Conti will set you back 24 grand. No thanks. 2005s and 2009s are ready to drink. If you didn't buy them back in the 20teens you'll pay bigly now.
Stock up on 2022s as soon as they come out while they're cheap.
Operation Wine Crime, the next concept album by Queensryche.
a single bottle of Chateau d’Yquem from 1806 valued at over $300,000
That type of dessert wine wouldn’t be worth $3 to me!
I actually liked the 2010’s better than 2009, but the 2005’s were better than either imo. I still have a few of each. What has worked for me is to buy the mid priced stuff in the great vintages and put it back. I have several years of Pontet Canet and have only opened one.
As far as wine goes, my special stuff is Barolo, or Etna Rosso.
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