Author Topic: Expensive wine stolen from French Laundry may be tough to sell  (Read 7433 times)

BayGBM

  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 19417
Expensive wine stolen from French Laundry may be tough to sell
« on: December 31, 2014, 04:42:37 PM »
Expensive wine stolen from French Laundry may be tough to sell
by Russ Parsons

'Wines like this are like artwork,' one expert says. 'They're almost impossible to sell if they've been stolen.' Some bottles are worth as much as $15,000.

The rare wines taken during the Christmas Day burglary at the French Laundry -- Napa Valley’s storied restaurant -- though very valuable, may not be easy to sell, wine industry experts say.

Seventy-six bottles of rare wines, worth as much as $15,000 a bottle, were taken in the burglary. The majority of those wines were from the Burgundy producer Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, though several bottles of highly collectible California cult Cabernet Sauvignon Screaming Eagle also were stolen.

The total retail price of the wines would be roughly $300,000, if they could be found for sale. Retail prices are only a fraction of what the wines would sell for on a restaurant wine list. Typical restaurant mark-ups are two to three times retail, and for rare wines can be even higher.

“Those are extremely rare wines,” says Bob Golbahar, president of Twenty Twenty Wine Cellars in West Los Angeles, which handles both Screaming Eagle and wines from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. “They for sure knew what they were taking. They got the cream of the crop.”

Scott Torrence, vice president and senior wine specialist at Christie’s auction house, which says it has sold $75 million of wine in the last year, agrees. “They’re extremely collectible. These are the blue chips of the auction market.”

Six bottles of the 1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Romanée-Conti” -- one of the wines stolen -- recently sold at a Christie’s auction for $125,000.

But even though the wines are extremely valuable, they may not be easy to sell.

“First of all, most of these wines have serial numbers on the bottles,” Golbahar says. “These days when the distributors sell you the wine, they put the serial numbers on the invoices and those bottles can be tracked very easily.

“Wines like this are like artwork -- they’re almost impossible to sell if they’ve been stolen. Everybody knows about it, it’s been so highly publicized. It’s like trying to sell a hot Picasso or something.”

The French Laundry, located in Yountville, is acknowledged to be one of the greatest restaurants in the world. It has earned a coveted three stars from the Michelin restaurant guide every year since Michelin began reviewing American restaurants in 2006.

According to a restaurant spokesperson, the serial numbers of the stolen wines had been recorded and were immediately distributed to potential resellers. Torrence says the list of wines stolen was already circulating at his company within an hour of it being published.

And auction houses such as Christie's have long memories. Torrence says he still keeps a list of wines that were stolen from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti more than a decade ago and regularly checks bottles that are being offered against it.

For wines that have not been recorded, resale is much easier. “We can’t really distinguish their Romanée-St. Vivant 2010 from somebody else’s without that serial number, or some other distinguishing marks,” Torrence says.

With the popularity of Internet forums specializing in wine collecting, the market for these bottles is even more connected than before. And it’s more suspicious than ever since Los Angeles’ Rudy Kurniawan, once one of the biggest names in wine collecting, was convicted of fraud for duping other collectors by selling bottles labeled for expensive wines that had been refilled with cheaper stuff.

“It’s like artwork,” Golbahar says. “Everyone who is interested is connected. All the auction houses know about it. All the legitimate stores know about it. Anybody who collects those wines knows about it. It’s going to be almost impossible to sell them legitimately.”

That same connectedness, however, can make it easier for the unscrupulous to sell stolen wines privately. “Somebody could get a conversation going in a chat room somewhere and say ‘hey here’s my email address and I could sell you some things out of my cellar’,” Torrence says. “It’s just simple as that.”

“More likely, whoever has it will just sit tight for a while," Golbahar says. "Even if they just put out a bottle at a time, people are going to ask questions. This is not just something that can just disappear into the wind."

Novena

  • Getbig IV
  • ****
  • Posts: 1295
  • "commonsense" shields us from the pain of thinking
Re: Expensive wine stolen from French Laundry may be tough to sell
« Reply #1 on: December 31, 2014, 11:05:56 PM »
I bet their clean and press have perfect form.  Even prettier than a French Snatch...

Princess L

  • Moderator
  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 13094
  • I stop for turtles
Re: Expensive wine stolen from French Laundry may be tough to sell
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2015, 11:18:13 AM »
Sounds like an inside job.


"On Christmas day, The French Laundry was the victim of a robbery. Specific wines of specific value were stolen"

:

Victor VonDoom

  • Getbig IV
  • ****
  • Posts: 1424
  • ...and Doom shall control the world!
Re: Expensive wine stolen from French Laundry may be tough to sell
« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2015, 04:04:32 AM »
Sounds like an inside job.


"On Christmas day, The French Laundry was the victim of a robbery. Specific wines of specific value were stolen"



Definitely!  Bah ha ha ha ha

Princess L

  • Moderator
  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 13094
  • I stop for turtles
Re: Expensive wine stolen from French Laundry may be tough to sell
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2015, 07:19:54 PM »
Most of the wine was recovered in Greensboro, North Carolina. Story is still developing.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/home/3422978-181/detectives-find-rare-wine-stolen?page=0
:

AbrahamG

  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 18078
  • Team Pfizer
Re: Expensive wine stolen from French Laundry may be tough to sell
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2015, 07:27:56 PM »
Wine is for homosexuals.  End thread.

BayGBM

  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 19417
Re: Expensive wine stolen from French Laundry may be tough to sell
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2015, 03:18:39 AM »
Most of the wine was recovered in Greensboro, North Carolina. Story is still developing.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/home/3422978-181/detectives-find-rare-wine-stolen?page=0

I saw that... and only a few bottles were missing.  I'm sure it was in or headed to some private collection. Too funny.  ;D

Reminds me of the Thomas Crown Affair:

"So, who is gonna risk prison to steal a Monet, just to not sell it?"
"A Monet lover."

denarii

  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4240
Re: Expensive wine stolen from French Laundry may be tough to sell
« Reply #7 on: January 24, 2015, 03:23:14 AM »
export them to hong kong. sell them easy there.

Grape Ape

  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 22059
  • SC è un asino
Re: Expensive wine stolen from French Laundry may be tough to sell
« Reply #8 on: January 24, 2015, 11:35:59 AM »
Most of the wine was recovered in Greensboro, North Carolina. Story is still developing.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/home/3422978-181/detectives-find-rare-wine-stolen?page=0


Can't believe they tracked TA down.
Y

BayGBM

  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 19417
Re: Expensive wine stolen from French Laundry may be tough to sell
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2015, 04:46:01 AM »
I hope they make a movie about this in the vein of the Thomas Crown Affair.  That was great entertainment for museum patrons and art lovers.  

"He's not gonna sell"
"He's not?"
"Hmm.  This is an elegant crime done by an elegant person.  It's not about the money."

Brosnan and Russo had great chemistry in the movie. For several years there was talk of a sequel.  Apparently a script was written...  Not sure why the film was never made.  :'(

John McTiernan Wrote A Thomas Crown Affair Sequel While In Prison
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/John-McTiernan-Wrote-Thomas-Crown-Affair-Sequel-Prison-42758.html

gcb

  • Getbig IV
  • ****
  • Posts: 2283
  • you suffer, why?
Re: Expensive wine stolen from French Laundry may be tough to sell
« Reply #10 on: January 27, 2015, 12:13:47 AM »
I'd probably just drink them if I didn't know how to get rid of them

El Diablo Blanco

  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 31820
  • Nom Nom Nom Nom
Re: Expensive wine stolen from French Laundry may be tough to sell
« Reply #11 on: February 09, 2015, 01:15:40 PM »
Bullshit.  Japs are snatching up this shit on the black market.  They didn't steal these without already knowing the market. 

Truth though?

The guys at the French Laundry got blitzed one night, coke, hookers and such, started busting out the expensive bottles, drank until they passed out.  Woke up, panicked, cleaned up the mess, ditched the dead hookers bodies and called the cops claiming they were robbed.