- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
$300K wine heist at famed French Laundry restaurant
Posted on 12/30/14 at 11:23 pm
Posted on 12/30/14 at 11:23 pm
LINK
quote:
A crook with knowledge of high-end wine tore into the French Laundry’s expansive cellar, bypassing hundreds of bottles of lesser vintages to zero in on the priciest pickings at the celebrated Napa Valley restaurant.
On Tuesday, news of the calculated Christmas Day heist was rippling through Northern California’s restaurant scene as detectives probe for clues, hoping to catch the person who plundered hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of the world’s rarest and greatest wines.
The burglar or burglars made off with 76 bottles from the three-Michelin-star restaurant in Yountville. Some of the pilfered French Burgundy, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, sells for more than $10,000 a bottle internationally.
“When you get a good Romanée-Conti with some age on it, it doesn’t get any better,” said Dan Dawson, owner of Back Room Wines, a wine shop in downtown Napa.
Over the past two decades, Dawson said, he has come across a Romanée-Conti only a handful of times.
Related
“They are all really special,” he said of the stolen wines. “The highest-end restaurants are where you would find them. They’re very well-known wines.”
At least another five lifted bottles were Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon, arguably the most sought-after wine produced in Napa Valley. Only a few hundred cases per vintage are released.
Authorities suspect that the thief or thieves had a good idea of what to look for, and when to do it, when they broke through the French Laundry’s cellar door sometime after 2 p.m. on Christmas. The restaurant was closed, and employees discovered the theft at 7:45 a.m. the next day.
6
Posted on 12/31/14 at 4:58 am to Jim Rockford
Posted on 12/31/14 at 7:44 am to Jim Rockford
Wow.
They're also "closed for renovations" right now. I wonder if that was pre-planned or has something to do with this.
They're also "closed for renovations" right now. I wonder if that was pre-planned or has something to do with this.
Posted on 12/31/14 at 7:46 am to LouisianaLady
quote:
They're also "closed for renovations" right now.
I didn't know Napa also threw an essence festival.
Posted on 12/31/14 at 7:57 am to LSUBoo
quote:
I didn't know Napa also threw an essence festival.
I literally laughed out loud. Nice, Clark.
Posted on 12/31/14 at 7:58 am to Jim Rockford
Inside job similar to the Pappy heist would be my uneducated guess.
Posted on 12/31/14 at 8:01 am to LSUBoo
Posted on 12/31/14 at 8:24 am to bossflossjr
Thank you thank you, I'll be here all week, be sure to tip your waitstaff.
Posted on 12/31/14 at 8:27 am to Jim Rockford
Is that $300k in menu prices or $300k in retail prices?
Posted on 12/31/14 at 8:36 am to Hermit Crab
That's a collector who put out a shopping list. They won't find that wine on the market.
Posted on 12/31/14 at 8:40 am to Martini
quote:
That's a collector who put out a shopping list. They won't find that wine on the market.
No doubt. Will have to find it in a home, not being resold.
Posted on 12/31/14 at 12:28 pm to bossflossjr
They could sell it in china without difficulty I'm sure
Posted on 12/31/14 at 12:55 pm to bossflossjr
quote:
No doubt. Will have to find it in a home, not being resold.
You will see plenty of black market attempt to make a buck here.
This post was edited on 12/31/14 at 12:56 pm
Posted on 12/31/14 at 1:15 pm to Jim Rockford
The stolen DRC wines remind me of this story.
LINK
Anyone here ever had a DRC wine?
LINK
quote:
NYC Somm Pulls Ultimate Pro Move, Sneaks $5000 Bottle on Top of the Eiffel Tower
quote:
Recently, sommelier Michael Madrigale did something amazing. The Wine Director of NYC institutions Bar Boulud and Boulud Sud managed to sneak a fabulously rare and expensive bottle of wine into a highly-secured area, and drink it in a style that most of us wine mortals can only dream of. In other words, he smuggled a bottle of 1985 Domaine de la Romaneé-Conti Montrachet Grand Cru atop the Eiffel Tower, and proceeded to drink what we can only assume was the single most satisfying glass of wine in history. When he documented his escapades on the wine app Delectable, we immediately reached out to get the whole story. The year it all started In 1985, at the age of eight, Michael was visiting family in Paris when his grandfather took him on a journey he’d never forget. “He snuck me out of my hotel room late one night up to the Eiffel Tower without my parents even knowing.“ Michael told us in an email interview. “It meant a lot to me and I never forgot this moment.“ Later that year, his grandfather passed away at the age of 85. “I always had on my bucket list the idea of going back to Paris and to the top of the Eiffel Tower again at night and with an '85 French wine," Michael told us. Over the years, as Burgundy became a passion for him, it became clear that DRC was the only option. Especially considering that the French version of his grandfather’s name, Albert, is Aubert, the same as the co-director of the sacred Burgundian estate, Aubert de Villaine. “The best for the best!” As Michael puts it. “After putting away a lot of tips over the years, I was able to source an awesome bottle of this '85 DRC Montrachet,” Madrigale told us. So anybody who has slipped this oenological madman a $20 over the years can take comfort that they were, in some small way, partner to this fantastic event.
Anyone here ever had a DRC wine?
Posted on 12/31/14 at 1:16 pm to Jim Rockford
Everything is relative, but 10k on a bottle of wine always makes me laugh.
Page 1 of 1
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News