French man arrested for stealing 7,000 bottles of wine

The man is suspected of undertaking the theft of the bottles over several years from wine houses in the growing region of Beaune in the Côte d’Or, according to Caracotch.

Following his arrest after being seen stealing the four bottles, the police searched his home, where they discovered nearly 7,000 bottles of wine.

Cellars

Investigators discovered several cellars at the property which housed the allegedly stolen wine, including bottles from his current place of work as well as other producers where the man had also previously worked.

According to the news, he accumulated the bottles over approximately a fifteen year period, and also lined the walls of a cellar at his mother’s house with wine as well.

Bottles included grand crus such as Vosne-Romanée and other prestigious producers from the area.

There was no indication though that he “resold the slightest bottle”, according to the prosecutor.

Value

Wine theft is surprisingly common in France, especially as some of the bottles are valued at several thousand pounds.

In 2020, an operation by a French police and gendarme strike force dubbed ‘Magnum’ recovered more than €5 million worth of stolen fine wines and resulted in the arrests of over 20 people.

In addition in 2021, police in France recovered 1,000 bottles of stolen wine and arrested 10 people in connection with two separate burglaries at estates in Burgundy.

Only last month, an inventory of the cellar of Paris’ historic La Tour d’Argent revealed that 83 bottles of wine, including Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, had inexplicably vanished.