October 24th, 2026
Has wine theft become attractive? In recent months there have been several large thefts of valuable bottles in Italy
Recently, the famous Tuscan winery Marchesi Antinori reported the theft of thirty thousand bottles of wine. According to the company's chief executive officer, Renzo Cotarella, this would be the first time an operation of this scale has taken place in Italy. The news is considered so significant for the sector and beyond that it was initially broken exclusively by the renowned British newspaper Financial Times, before being picked up by a great many other media outlets around the world.
Marchesi Antinori is one of Italy's oldest and most important wineries, with a history dating back to the fourteenth century; it remains a family-run business to this day, generating an annual turnover of over 260 million euros. Despite having operations and estates spread across several Italian regions and abroad, the company maintains a strong connection with Tuscany. The theft took place at the warehouse in Cortona, in the province of Arezzo: this is the group's main logistics hub for all its sites and stores millions of bottles. The facility — highly regarded from an architectural standpoint — was built inside a hillside with the aim of not spoiling the surrounding landscape: this solution allows for very large spaces to be housed without making them visible from the road, which in some respects worked in the thieves' favour.
How did the Marchesi Antinori theft take place?
The bottles of red wine stolen from Marchesi Antinori — all from the 2023 vintage — are worth between 150 and nearly 500 euros each and include prestigious labels such as Solaia, Tignanello and Guado al Tasso. According to reconstructions of events, the theft involved at least seven people, all with their faces covered and still unidentified. Those responsible removed crates containing thousands of bottles from the Marchesi Antinori warehouse in Cortona, in the province of Arezzo, before loading them onto two lorries. The total value of the stolen goods is estimated at around five million euros.
The theft took place over the first weekend of October, without anyone noticing. The thieves took bottles that were already packed and ready for shipment abroad, scheduled for Monday morning. The missing crates were only discovered when employees returned to work. "Two lorries full of goods cannot simply vanish into thin air," Cotarella commented, adding that the company is urging its customers to be on the lookout for any sales of its wines outside official channels.
Other major wine thefts before the Marchesi Antinori case
In recent months, several other large-scale thefts of fine wine bottles have occurred in Italy. On the night of 16 to 17 September, for example, over three thousand bottles of Barolo were stolen from the Conterno Fantino winery — in Monforte d'Alba, in the province of Cuneo. The value of the stolen goods is estimated at hundreds of thousands of euros. According to reconstructions, the thieves spent around three hours methodically transferring the bottles onto vans. To avoid making noise, they reportedly then pushed the vehicles with the engines off for around a hundred metres until they reached the road, before making their getaway — to date, neither those responsible for the theft nor the bottles have been traced.
On the night of Sunday 28 to Monday 29 June, furthermore, over three thousand fine bottles were stolen from the Piedmontese winery Banfi, based in Strevi, in the province of Alessandria. "The theft of entire pallets," reads a statement from the company, "suggests that the thieves knew exactly what they were doing. Indeed, they selected the bottles with great care, choosing several [flagship] references of Alta Langa, from the Cuvée Aurora and Cuvée Aurora Rosé to the Riserva 100 Mesi."
