$300,000 Worth Of French Wine Stolen On Christmas Day From Exclusive Californian Restaurant
“Bah humbug” were probably the first two words uttered by The French Laundry restaurant owner Thomas Keller when he found out that on Christmas Day, thieves had broken into his three-Michelin star eatery and stolen an estimated $300,000 worth of the finest French wines.
The wine heist, which took place in the early hours of the morning, happened after the thieves, who should have been eating turkey and celebrating Christmas, forced the door of the secured wine room at the restaurant, taking only the very best bottles in the collection.
According to a CBS Local report, the majority of the 76 bottles of wine stolen were from the Domaine de la Romanée Conti, including bottles from the Burgundy estate’s Romanée Conti vineyard that are worth at least $15,000 each!
The head chef and proprietor of the eatery, Thomas Keller, took to Twitter, asking for help from the wine community in finding the thieves.
“On Christmas day, The French Laundry was the victim of a robbery. Specific wines of specific value were stolen (DRC & Screaming Eagle). We have complete trust in the authorities leading the investigation, and we welcome any information our community may have regarding the event. We are confident that if and when any of the stolen bottles appear in public, they will immediately raise questions and red flags among the wine knowledgeable. The French Laundry wine program is, as many of you know, singular and distinct. We look forward to rebuilding our cellar in the meantime and plan to get to the bottom of this disheartening act immediately.”
The well-known French Laundry, in Northern California, which just celebrated its 20th birthday this summer, is known to be one of the most exclusive restaurants in the world and is one of only 13 three-Michelin star restaurants in all of America.
Sfgate.com also reported that most of the wines taken were highly collectible and trade mostly on private and auction markets.
The most valuable wines stolen were bottles of DRC Romanée Conti from the vintages spanning 2004-2010, which range in price at retail from $11,000 to $15,000 per bottle. There were also bottles of DRC’s La Tache from 1993 to 2010, which range in price from to $2,100 to $4,500 each.
