Mission DRC? The Yquem affair? A look at the most exciting wine heists of the last five years

Disguises, drilling through walls, and… DRC? Although their methodologies might have all the hallmarks of a classic Hollywood caper, these real-life thieves aren’t after diamonds, jewels or works of art.

Produced in tiny quantities from a few prized hectares, the world’s finest wines can command six-figure sums on the secondary market – making them a tempting target for the unscrupulous. Whether in the hallowed halls of Burgundy or a quiet inn in rural Virginia, wine thieves have proven that they’ll stop at nothing to get their hands on liquid treasure.

A Romanée-Conti Robbery

In November 2025, a couple arrived at L’Auberge Provençale Inn & Restaurant in Virginia and asked for a tour of the wine cellar. She had a British accent, he wore a long black trench coat. She told the staff that her boss was interested in hosting an intimate dinner in a location surrounded by fine wine. He didn’t speak much. As sommelier Christian Borel led them around the cellar, he noticed the man slip out of sight. When the man returned, he cut the visit short.

They had to go, he said. As Borel led them upstairs, he had a feeling something was very wrong. He quickly doubled back to the cellar, where he saw them: his collection of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti had been replaced with screwtop bottles. Disguised in wigs and long coats, Natali Ray of Kent, England, and her partner in crime, Serbian national Nikola Krndija, had just burgled six bottles of Burgundy’s most soght-after wine.

As Borel raced upstairs to sound the alarm, the couple made a run for it, heading for an SUV parked outside. Waiter Matthew Leader caught up to Ray, but Krndija was faster. He made it to the car with Borel in hot pursuit. As Borel tried to force his way into the car, Krndija revved the motor and sped off. One of L’Auberge Provençale’s regulars joined the chase in his Porsche Panamera. He raced down the highway, trying to cut off the SUV, but was hit by another car and forced to pull off the road. Ray has been charged with grand larceny, and is being held in a Virginia jail. Krndija remains at large: investigators told The Washington Post that he boarded a flight to Vienna from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport the day after the theft.

Still, not all was lost. In the chaos, a 2019 Échézeaux and a 2021 Grands Échézeaux broke free from Krndija’s trenchcoat and landed safely in the grass. Although they were entered as evidence with the county sheriff’s office, they should soon be retired to the restaurant’s cellar.

Burglary in Burgundy

The DRC heist in Virginia wasn’t the first time a thief has been enticed by expensive bottles of Burgundy. In 2024, a 57-year-old maintenance technician was convicted of stealing up to 8,000 bottles of wine worth around €500,000 from leading Burgundy estates over the course of 15 years.

François B. was charged with stealing 1,059 bottles and 159 magnums from Albert Bichot as well as 226 bottles and 25 magnums from Joseph Drouhin. Although the theft is thought to be one of the largest in French history, all the bottles were found intact in the thief’s cellar. He told French detectives that he only wanted to ‘sit in the middle of his cellars to contemplate them’. In light of the complete recovery of the stolen bottles, Bichot opted to demand only one Euro from the kleptomaniac-turned-collector. He was given a 12-month suspended sentence, along with a €10,000 fine.

A Caper in Cáceres

Ray and Krndija’s wigs and coats followed a long tradition of thieves who have made efforts to disguise their appearances. In 2021, a woman in black-framed glasses and a wig, and a man with light brown hair sat down for dinner at the Michelin-starred restaurant and hotel Atrio in Cáceres, Spain.

Soon after finishing their meal, which stretched into the wee hours, the woman approached the night manager, claiming to still be a little peckish. Although the kitchen was closed, the manager went to get her something to eat – Atrio is a luxury hotel, after all. As his back was turned, the woman’s partner grabbed the master keycard from reception, let himself into the wine cellar, and began to stack bottles in a large rucksack and two large sport bags. Among them was a bottle of 1806 Château d’Yquem valued at €350,000.

All told, the couple made off with 45 bottles worth over €1.6m, but Spain’s Policía Nacional and their European counterparts would soon bring them to justice. In February 2023, a woman with long, wavy hair and a bald-headed man stood in a courtroom. Priscila Lara Guevara, 29, a former beauty queen from Mexico, and the Romanian-Dutch Constantin Gabriel Dumitru, 47, were found guilty of theft and sentenced to four and four and a half years in prison, respectively, as well as ordered to pay back the €753,454.46 the insurance company had compensated Atrio for. The missing bottles have never been found.

Break-In in Basingstoke

When disguises and sleight of hand don’t work, there’s always the brute force approach. In 2015, in a move straight out of a Jason Statham thriller, an unknown number of thieves made off with almost £1.5m worth of wine from the Berry Bros & Rudd warehouse in Basingstoke, Hampshire.

The canny criminals moved security cameras to avoid being seen as they drilled a four-by-four foot hole into the warehouse wall, just inches below the laser security beam. The expertise with which they carried out the robbery led one source to speculate to The Independent that the robbery was an inside job.

The newspaper reported that the thieves made straight for the luxury section of the warehouse, ‘forming a chain and passing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of French wine’ out of the building. And although most heists take place under a tight time limit, these thieves decided to take a moment to celebrate their criminal accomplishments with a party. Eschewing the pricey bottles of Château Latour and Château Mouton-Rothschild among the stolen loot, the confident thieves celebrated their success with Moët & Chandon Champagne.

It appears their celebration wasn’t premature; the case is still unresolved.

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