Wine thieves clear out world-famous cellar
Ulriksdals Wärdshus, a restaurant and old event hall world famous for its French red wine has been robbed of its entire collection, valued at more than 3.5 million kronor.
The collection consisted of more than 600 bottles from every vintage of the 20th century from the six Grand Cru castles of the French Bordeaux region. The collection has been registered by Guinness Book of Records for years as a unique wine collection.
The theft happened on the night of 22nd July, but now the owners of the restaurant have spoken out.
“Our neighbor went by the building on the Sunday morning and saw that there was a theft,” said Katarina Ström, manager of the restaurant. “When we got there we saw that the thieves had broken in and taken all of the 600 wines in the collection.”
Ström said the alarm system was disabled allowing the thieves to have hours to burgle the place. She said the heavy-duty glass security door had been opened with a crow bar. “It must have taken hours,” she said, adding that they took the security tape before leaving.
She said the thieves then went down into the cellar where the collection was stored at 16 degrees Celsius in semi-dark conditions.
“They must have had boxes there to carry up all of that wine,” Ström said. “They took every bottle. It must have taken a long time to pack.”
She said police did not find any fingerprints or DNA, but did find a footprint. She said police told her the only way to solve this case would be to have people call in with tips.
“I can’t believe all of the wine is gone,” she said. “Guests used to love coming down and looking at it.”
Ström said the restaurant is insured, but said she did not know how much she would receive back. Some of the bottles were worth more than 35,000 kronor.
“It doesn’t matter, you could never replace this collection,” she said. “It isn’t like you can turn around and sell the collection to an auction. I don’t think this was an inside job, but many know about the wine. There must be a very happy person with his own Bordeaux wine collection now.”
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The collection consisted of more than 600 bottles from every vintage of the 20th century from the six Grand Cru castles of the French Bordeaux region. The collection has been registered by Guinness Book of Records for years as a unique wine collection.
The theft happened on the night of 22nd July, but now the owners of the restaurant have spoken out.
“Our neighbor went by the building on the Sunday morning and saw that there was a theft,” said Katarina Ström, manager of the restaurant. “When we got there we saw that the thieves had broken in and taken all of the 600 wines in the collection.”
Ström said the alarm system was disabled allowing the thieves to have hours to burgle the place. She said the heavy-duty glass security door had been opened with a crow bar. “It must have taken hours,” she said, adding that they took the security tape before leaving.
She said the thieves then went down into the cellar where the collection was stored at 16 degrees Celsius in semi-dark conditions.
“They must have had boxes there to carry up all of that wine,” Ström said. “They took every bottle. It must have taken a long time to pack.”
She said police did not find any fingerprints or DNA, but did find a footprint. She said police told her the only way to solve this case would be to have people call in with tips.
“I can’t believe all of the wine is gone,” she said. “Guests used to love coming down and looking at it.”
Ström said the restaurant is insured, but said she did not know how much she would receive back. Some of the bottles were worth more than 35,000 kronor.
“It doesn’t matter, you could never replace this collection,” she said. “It isn’t like you can turn around and sell the collection to an auction. I don’t think this was an inside job, but many know about the wine. There must be a very happy person with his own Bordeaux wine collection now.”
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