'Undrinkable' record collection of Bordeaux stolen
August 25, 2006 Panos Kakaviatos and Maggie Rosen
A rare £300k collection of top Bordeaux wines stolen by professional thieves from a Swedish restaurant is 'undrinkable' say the owners.
Ulriksdals Wärdshus, the restaurant whose collection of 600 bottles of First Growth Bordeaux was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as one of the most complete, was raided on the night of 22-23 July. News of the heist was not made public until this month.
The collection (pictured) consisted of one bottle from each of the five First Growths (Chateaux Lafite, Latour, Haut-Brion, Margaux and Mouton-Rothschild) and the top Sauternes Chateau d'Yquem for every vintage from 1900 to 2000.
'They did not take any of the cheaper wines. They were real professionals,' Lars Fagerlund, restaurant manager, told decanter.com. 'We have no leads. So far, the police did not find any prints, aside from a single shoe print.'
The thieves cut telephone lines and removed surveillance videos to cover their tracks before making off with the wines.
According to Fagerlund, the collection is valued at around £290,000 (US$548,000). The most expensive bottle taken was a 1945 Lafite Rothschild, worth nearly £4,000 (US$7,560).
Although restaurant administrator Lilian Finell confirmed that the collection was insured, she said its real value lay in its comprehensiveness.
'The wine was not for sale, it was more of a museum attraction. Most of it is undrinkable,' she said.
Christie's and Sotheby's auctioneers in London said they have not been approached, nor would they take on any bottles whose legal provenance could not be verified. Both indicated that unless a collection of such wine is in perfect, drinkable condition, it would be of little value to most collectors.
'People don't tend to buy collections like they used to,' said Stephen Mould, head of Sotheby's European wine department. 'And buying the whole thing at once defeats the thrill for most collectors. The thieves will find it difficult to sell through legitimate channels. Beyond that, though, it could end up anywhere from here to Timbuktu.'
Fagerlund said the bottles had all been photographed and some were numbered, making selling on the open market 'difficult'.
David Elswood, International Head of Christie's wine department, thought the wine had probably been stolen to order.
'While none of these bottles are unique, the rarity lies in the collection,' he said. 'People willing to pay big money for wine want there to be a chance that it's drinkable. You might get a new buyer in Russia or Asia who thinks it has novelty value, but it's a small wine world and you couldn't just put an ad in the paper for this.'
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'A rare £300k collection of top Bordeaux wines stolen by professional thieves from a Swedish restaurant is "undrinkable" say the owners.' This will certainly not comes as news to most wine consumers. Dan Friedman, NYC
What a crock of poop! How could you let yourself be manipulated by the victims of the theft? Undrinkable? Provided that these wines were appropriately cellared, some folks would kill to taste them. Why did you reflect such self interested driven info without the obvious, measured counterpoint or journalistic balance that is your custom? Perplexed, disappointed and waiting for a more correct and thorough reporting. David Guerzini, New Jersey USA
Exactly how undrinkable is a wine collection worth £290,000? Anthony Rose, London
The word undrinkable is in quotation marks - which means we are quoting a source, the restaurant owners. Certainly the wines are valued very highly, because many are rare. At least some may well be drinkable, but we have no way of knowing this. Panos Kakaviatos
I had 85 bottles of rare DRC and Bordeaux stolen from my
house north of Stockholm. This happened in April and still not a trace from the police and still fighting with my Insurance company, this is the second time in 3 years Ive had valuable wine stolen from me. I am sure it was an inside job and probably the same people here as well. I hope they find vinegar in the bottles. JT, Sweden
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Panos Kakaviatos and Maggie Rosen
'A rare £300k collection of top Bordeaux wines stolen by professional thieves from a Swedish restaurant is "undrinkable" say the owners.' This will certainly not comes as news to most wine consumers. Dan Friedman, NYC
