Thieves continued to focus on among the world’s most sought-after effective wines on the finish of final 12 months, with Austria’s Kracher Wonderful Wine and Norway’s Park 29 restaurant among the many newest companies to fall sufferer.
Round 600 or 700 bottles of top-end wines had been stolen on the finish of November from Kracher Wonderful Wine, the service provider enterprise that sits alongside extremely regarded Kracher vineyard.
‘They knew precisely what they had been on the lookout for,’ director Gerhard Kracher instructed Decanter this week, including among the wines weren’t replaceable.
A listing of wines taken was revealed through the Wein.Plus publication, and Kracher stated the checklist was correct. It consists of high vintages and names from Bordeaux and California, from Châteaux Latour and Lafite Rothschild to Harlan Property and Inglenook Rubicon.
Kracher stated a number of different Austrian retailers has additionally been focused by burglars within the earlier 12 months.
In Norway, thieves not too long ago stole round 264 bottles from Park 29 restaurant in Oslo. These taken included high Burgundy, akin to Domaine de la Romanée-Conti wines, plus Barolo and Côte-Rôtie, stated Park 29’s co-owner, Fridtjof Bade.
He instructed Decanter the estimated worth was nonetheless being calculated, and the restaurant’s insurance coverage firm was wanting into it. ‘We assume it’s between NOK1.2 million and NOK2m (£99,000 – £166,000), however we don’t know but,’ he stated.
Bade additionally believes the thieves knew what they had been on the lookout for. ‘They’ve at the least checked out our wine checklist earlier than they walked in,’ he stated, including Park 29 has a powerful popularity for its wine menu in Norway. ‘They had been so skilled. It regarded like anyone hadn’t been there.’
He stated the state of affairs was ‘actually irritating’, significantly as a result of most of the wines are laborious to exchange.
Park 29 is well-known for its Champagne checklist, though comparatively few high Champagnes had been stolen. ‘They’ve simply walked by means of loads of good Champagnes,’ stated Bade.
Different eating places in Norway additionally noticed effective wine stolen within the final two months of 2022, in line with Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv. Tollboden in Kragerø noticed high Burgundy and Bordeaux labels taken, reported the Star Wine Record publication.
Kracher and Bade instructed Decanter they’ve elevated safety measures for his or her respective cellars. Kracher stated, ‘We’ve got a model new alarm system, new digicam system, our doorways are new and stronger now.’
Nonetheless, each additionally stated they didn’t count on to see the stolen wines once more, regardless of elevating the alarm inside the commerce.
‘Lots of these bottles have their very own serial quantity, so we have now talked about that to importers and in addition the wine monopoly [Vinmonopolet],’ stated Bade. He added, ‘I believe the bottles sadly are gone.’
The information follows the theft of round 132 bottles of high-end wines from Michelin-starred restaurant Coque in Madrid at the beginning of November.
