Thieves steal 30,000 wine bottles worth $5.8 million using winery’s forklifts

Thieves reportedly stole around 30,000 bottles of premium wine worth approximately €5 million ($5.8 million) from one of Italy’s most prestigious wine producers, Marchesi Antinori, in an overnight heist in Tuscany. The gang allegedly disabled security systems before using the winery’s own forklifts to load the bottles onto two trucks and escape. The theft took place at a logistics facility near Cortona, with the loss discovered by employees on October 5, 2026. The stolen shipment reportedly included the 2023 vintages of three celebrated wines: Solaia, Tignanello and Guado al Tasso. Investigators are examining how the thieves carried out the operation and whether they had advance information about the shipment.How the thieves pulled off the heistThe theft reportedly took place during the night of October 3–4 at a facility associated with Marchesi Antinori near Cortona, in Italy’s Tuscany region. According to media reports, at least seven masked individuals entered the premises and disabled security measures before beginning the operation.Rather than bringing their own loading equipment, the thieves allegedly used forklifts belonging to the winery to move the bottles onto two trucks....