Stolen Wine - long shot call for help

Recently had a mixed case stolen out of my cellar. I realize it’s a long shot, but if anyone in the SF Bay area happens to see a collection of similar wines show up at their local shop, please pm me. I’ve sent emails to a few places (K&L, PC) but the person we suspect took them knows nothing about wine and could take them anywhere with the story of “my uncle gave me these, I don’t know anything about them but…”.

They aren’t the most illustrious bottles of course, but the whole situation just pisses me off. I’m almost certain they won’t be found. But thought I’d at least give it my best. I don’t have wine insurance, and we will be filing a police report.

Thanks in advance.

1995 F Bertheau Chambolle, 1er Les Amoureuses - 1 bottle
1999 Jean Tardy Nuits St. Georges, 1er Les Boudots - 1 bottle
2004 Pierre Morey Meursault, 1er Perrieres - 1 bottle
2005 Charles Joguet, Franc de Pied - 1 bottle
2007 Walter Hansel Cahill Lane Pinot Noir - 1 bottle
2008 Michel Gros Vosne Romanee villages - 3 bottles - 3 bottles
2008 Michel Gros Vosne Romanee, 1er Clos de Reas - 3 bottles
2008 Walter Hansel South Slope Pinot Noir - 2 bottles - these I think may be not actually missing, but an inventory discrepancy.

This won’t help you any, but as someone at the tail end of building their very first wine cellar, I’m curious to hear how this played out.

If you’ve got a minute, feel like sharing the story?

Good luck, I hope you see your wine again… those seem like some tasty bottles.

good luck!

Sure, my good friend has graciously allowed me to share his cellar space. I keep about 1/2 my collection there, mostly for stuff I plan on drinking sooner than later (those '08’s are an exception obviously) since we live nearby and I can grab what I need when I want it. I was there to collect a bottle of the '04 PM - Perrieres and noted that one of my 3 bottles were missing. At first I just figured my buddy, or his dad who sometimes visits, had inadvertently taken the bottle. No big deal there. But, it seemed a bit odd since they are both Bordeaux guys. To grab a random white burg seemed odd. So I spent a couple of hours going through the inventory and noted the other bottles missing. Most interestingly they are from the same section of the racking, and closest to the cellar door. My friend has some very good older Bordeaux’s further back in the cellar (first growth stuff from the 60’s that weren’t touched, fortunately).

They recently had some plumbing work done, and this required access to the cellar. The plumber was working down there unattended. I suspect that there was an empty box down there and he or someone else grabbed it, filled it with whatever was right in front of them, loaded it in the truck, and adios! Easy peasy.

Oh well, live and learn. It does really leave a bad taste in my mouth but such is life in the first world.

I have no assistance to offer apart from noting that I am a fervent believer in and aspiring practitioner of Wine Karma – what comes around goes around, and I predict that if you are pure of heart (in a wine appreciation sense), much good (wine) will come your way. Should you make it to the Central Coast, I will make good on that myself.

Best,
Jonathan

That may be a bit of a stretch

I’m right over the hill from you Jonathan, so if Dalia doesn’t mind me being his proxy, I’d be happy to help all of our Karma!

Rick, you and a couple of friends need to drop by the plumber’s house with bung starters in hand to explore with him where the wine went. Maybe one of you sits on him, and the others search the house.

Or, get a lawyer to send him a very stiffly written letter, promising doom and crap falling on him.

Or, tell him you will out him on a plumber’s board.

Or, tell him you will rant out on him on Angie’s List.

I’m gonna rip him a new one on plumberberzerkers. Hmmm, in some way there is some irony to that statement.

Mooooooon River…

I once thought one of my daughter’s friends had stolen a couple bottles from my cellar but later I realized I was just an idiot. Fortunately I hadn’t sent the lawyers after her.

With the exception of the '08 Walter Hasels, I’m certain the wines were stolen by someone. I’m pretty sure I haven’t consumed those M Gros bottles. Had it been a few random bottles here and there I would have chalked it up to errors in bookkeeping. Whether or not it was the plumber is impossible to say.

Go look in his trash cans when he puts them out at the curb on trash day. Take a video camera along in case you find them to document.

That sucks Rick. No reason for me to believe you’re wrong in your suspicions, but does your friend have kids? Do the kids have friends?
Brazen for a tradesperson to haul out a box of wine from someone’s basement.

Yes, he does have two. Hmmmm, I didn’t even think about that until now. I doubt his 4th grader would have done something like this. She’s a pretty straight-up kid. But that 1st grader…she was acting a little strange last I saw her, wouldn’t look at me straight in the eye.

Halleluja if your Burgundy is fully insured

Rick that sucks. Tell the plumber he was videotaped and identified. The amount stolen was over $950 and therefore a felony. Tell him to return the wine to a certain location like a UPS store. Do not tell him who you are or meet him. Tell him he is on video taking the wine and has already been identified. Give him a list of the wine you know he stole. Tell him you just want what’s left more than you want him to have a felony. Tell him what he did was incredibly stupid but not worth having his license pulled.

Jim, given that it’s better to give than receive, you’re doing Jonathan a huge favor there!

My wife was once convinced the cleaning person had stolen her bracelet. Convinced to the point she wanted me to fire her.
My wife found the missing bracelet in our rv the next summer.


Glad I never confronted the cleaning person.

Are you coming for BerserkerFest?