Theft of DRC/Screagle from French Laundry

WINE TALK
61

They have 130 employees? WTF?

62

LOL. Perhaps Stuart did the job, but included a brilliant misdirection ploy in his game plan.

63

Another article in the SF Chron on other recent Bay Area wine heists. The Plumed Horse also got cleaned out of all DRC in 2013 as well. Wine burglars have long targeted the rarest bottles in Bay Area

64

Or this is an important clue–few on this Board would make that mistake. At least they grabbed the 2005 instead of the 2008…

65

According to Decanter, since the thief took the 04 Dom, that suggests that “the burglars knew what to pick from The French Laundry’s cellar.” Seriously? From Decanter? The DRC doesn’t indicate that? Thieves steal $300,000 of DRC and Screaming Eagle from The French Laundry - Decanter

66

Call Cousin Eddie…

67

The Press Democrat is reporting the bottles were found in a cellar in North Carolina (still no word on who did it): http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/3422978-181/detectives-find-wine-stolen-from?page=1

68

“The detectives have arranged to have the wine shipped back to Napa County.”

69

That raises more questions than it answers! It will be very interesting as additional details come forward.

70

Hope they aren’t shipping in very cold temps. It would be a funny end to the story if the bottles were damaged in shipping.

71

Most of the bottles found- I would have guessed they were on their way to the far East…

72

Very interesting article. I know we talked in this thread about this being a for hire theft. That some rich person somewhere had thieves target this specifically for him/her. What is interesting is that doesn’t seem to be the case here. The conspiracy theorist in me is now coming alive. Here are thoughts in no particular order:

-Not a contracted job, because the person obviously made a mistake or mistakes and got caught. If it had been a contracted job, the only way those bottles would have seen the light of day would/should have been in his private study (a la Thomas Crown)

-Whoever ended up with wine must have been an idiot to buy DRC, if he indeed bought it from the thieves, for what I’m sure had to be a crazy discount. What is it they say about stolen art? It sells for like 10% of its value on the black market? I mean if someone came to me offering me DRC for 1k a bottle I would probably say no 10 times out of 10.

-My final and favorite conspiracy theory is that once the wine is re-repatriated to the French Laundry, that people will fly in from near and far for the opportunity to buy and drink one of these infamous bottles. It will be interesting to see if the restaurant capitalized on the notoriety of these stolen wines.

Rant Over

73

Sheriff Pike from Napa was interviewed on KNX radio and said the majority of the wine was purchased by an unwitting buyer. Not a particular bright buyer. Any ballers in Greensboro on the Berserker board?

74

Not so sure about this. Given the wine was here, there and everywhere over the past weeks, would you want to throw down 2-3X retail (assume this is the restaurant list markup) for wine that was jockied all over the US just for notoriety? Not sure who this set of people would be- that would part with that much money (many thousands of dollars) for such an experience. Super-baller perhaps?

75

Excessibe baller.

76

TRAVEL SHOCK [wow.gif]

77

Who said that rednecks can’t appreciate fine wine! [snort.gif]

Full disclosure, I am from Southern Virginia and my brother lives in Hick ory, NC. I like to say that you can’t get the Hick out of Hickory! [berserker.gif]

78

Brady baller.

79

These wines may now be owned by an insurance company. Although it isn’t likely these will be widely offered, insurers want to get something back if possible.

80

I wish I knew which insurance company. They’d probably be available at a discount!