THE WORLD’S GREATEST

Where have all the

David Biggs INVESTIGATES FIVE of the WORLD’S most infamous WINE HEISTS

Wherever you nd items of value you will nd some devious human plotting to steal them. Jewellery, works of ne art, classic cars and—yes— ne wines have all been the subject of carefully plotted heists over the years. is raises an interesting thought: what exactly do we understand by “value”?

An Aston Martin is considered to be many times more valuable than a Toyota, but why? ey both carry passengers safely from place to place in much the same time. e one costs more to insure and maintain than the other, but people recognise the one as being “valuable” while the other is just ordinary.

Collectors will bid millions for a painting by Van Gogh, but scorn an excellent copy of the same painting. Both will look equally attractive on your wall, but the one is a valuable treasure while the other is just décor.

Similarly, certain wines are regularly sold for thousands of dollars a bottle on auction, while lesser labels are knocked down for a fraction of that price.

An interesting aspect of this is that the collector’s thousand-dollar bottle will probably never be opened. An hour a er the cork is removed, it is worthless, so it is kept rmly sealed under lock and key and shown to admiring friends.

By the time it is inherited by the buyer’s heirs it is probably completely undrinkable. But we recognise that it is “valuable.”

None of these “valuable” items are essential to our wellbeing. ey are only valuable because so-called experts tell us they are. Wealthy buyers collect them because they indicate to the world that they are successful. Nobody “needs” a Picasso painting. On the other hand, we would die if we did not have water. Why is water not considered more valuable than art?

Reports of recent arrests of high- ying corrupt politicians have o en included lists of the exotic cars owned by the crooks. ey are owned simply for the status of owning them. ey say: “See how wealthy I am.”

Back to the matter of valuable wines; one of the complicating ideas is the fact that without seeing the label very few people can actually distinguish between a great wine and a good one. is is why there have been instances of crooks stealing labels, rather than bottles, and dressing up inferior wines as valuable classics. Is anybody con dent enough to take a sip and declare: “ is is not a ‘95 La te”?

In fact, there are hundreds of cheap wines out there right now dressed in stolen labels and masquerading as wine royalty.

without a taste

Let’s take a look at some of the most (in)famous wine heists from across the world.

1. A FRENCH FAUX PAS French vintner Jacques Selosse produces only 60 000 bottles of perhaps the most exclusive bubbly in the world. ey sell for several hundred dollars a bottle. In 2013 thieves broke into his cellar and stole 4000 bottles, worth more than a million dollars. What is worse, they also stole 16 000 unused labels. Nobody was ever caught. Who knows now whether the Selosse wine you’re drinking is the real thing or just a cheap sparkler dressed in a stolen label? 2. THE SWITCH UP Sometimes it’s an “inside job.” In California the Legend Cellar stores rare wines in carefully controlled conditions for their wealthy owners. Some years ago the manager’s father, George Osini, was caught switching bottles of exclusive wine for cheap plonk. He had been getting away with it for some time, accounting for almost three million dollars of the good stu . He’s one of the few wine thieves that have actually been caught and is now serving a six-year jail sentence for fraud. Many well-documented wine heists remain a complete mystery.

3. TROUBLE DOWN UNDER In Australia the famous McLaren Vale winery supplies ne wines to hotels and restaurants in Sydney. In 2013 two trucks le the farm carrying 60 000 bottles of wine. Along the route it was discovered that both trucks were empty. No trace of the wine has been found. e wine simply appears to have vanished.

4. OLD FASHIONED CROOKS Wine thieves are o en bold, brash and inventive. In Britain, a gang of thieves broke into a wine warehouse guarded by CCTV cameras. ey not only managed to disable the cameras but stole 400 cases of rare wines and then stole a fork-li truck to load the loot onto their lorry. Again no trace has been found of the thieves or the half million pounds worth of stolen wine. Not even royalty escapes the cunning wine heisters.

5. A COUPLE OF THIRSTY THIEVES In Britain the wine merchants Berry Brothers and Rudd supply wine to Buckingham Palace for the use of the queen and her guests. In 2015 thieves broke into the Berry Bro’s warehouse and stole cases of Chateau Latour and Mouton-Rothschild, recognised as being among the nest wines in the world. ese were obviously thieves with ne palates. When the the was discovered it was found the thieves had stayed in the warehouse for long enough to open and drink a couple of magnums of Moët and Chandon champagne. ievery can obviously be thirsty work. I wonder whether they brought their own Champagne glasses?

One of the most complicated wine the s occurred in Paris some years ago. ieves surveyed and mapped the labyrinth of tunnels under the city and then located a ne wine cellar and used jackhammers to enter it and steal the wines from underneath. ey were never caught. Maybe it’s true that wine sharpens the mind.

BELLEVUE’S RESERVE RANGE

Designed to SHOWCASE the estate’s OLD VINEYARD WINES

Bellevue Wine Estate tells a typical South African tale about a farm with humble roots that was acquired with the idea of livestock farming. But, as the years went by, vineyards were planted in the fertile soils. After delivering wine to the former SFW, Bellevue later developed their own wine brand. And, the rest, as they say, is history.

Did you know most vines on Bellevue are planted based on the bush vine method? Bush vines naturally produce a smaller crop and consequently good concentration. The farm also boasts some of the oldest blocks of vineyards in the country.

To showcase the best of these valuable, old vineyard wines made on Bellevue, the estate has recently launched a brand-new Reserve Range. This highly anticipated range consists of a barrelaged Chardonnay, Pinotage, Cabernet Sauvignon as well as a Bordeaux Blend – where all five components are grown on the estate.

Suffice to say, Bellevue’s Reserve Range is testament that good things take time. And, they often come in small packages—or crops for that matter.