Thieves steal £100k of wine from BBR

Fine wine merchant Berry Bros & Rudd has had £100,000 worth of wine stolen from its Basingstoke warehouse after thieves cut through the wall.

The theft occurred on Sunday 26 April and although police and BBR have not revealed the exact amount lost, it is likely to be around £100,000 with one case reportedly worth £5,000. BBR has three warehouses at its Basingstoke site and only one was broken into.

The Hampshire-based site is surrounded by an eight-foot fence, closely monitored by CCTV and delivery vans must wait to be admitted to the site but police said that a van would have to have been used in the robbery due to the amount of wine taken.

A spokesman from BBR said: “We’re working with police following  an incident at one of our warehouses in Basingstoke and are thankful that none of our staff was injured. The security of our staff and facilities continues to be our highest priority, together with taking the best care of our customers.”

As the value of fine wine has risen so, it seems, has the number of thefts involving prestigious names.

Yquem, Palmer and Champagne grower Jacques Selosse have all suffered break-ins in recent years and although fine wine has occasionally been stolen from containers before, this is apparently one of the few instances of thieves successfully breaking into a warehouse itself.