3,000 bottles of Alta Langa stolen from Strevi winery
More than 3,000 bottles of premium fizz have been nicked from Banfi winery in Piedmont in what the producer has described as a carefully calculated operation.
The theft took place on the night of 28 June at Banfi’s cellar in Strevi, in the northern province of Alessandria, with the estimated value of the stolen wine running into hundreds of thousands of euros.
The bottles were all from the Alta Langa DOCG appellation, a traditional method sparkling wine produced in the Piedmont region.
Speaking to local financial publication Il Sole 24 Ore, a Banfi representative said the thieves appeared to have targeted specific wines.
“The theft of entire pallets suggests the thieves knew exactly what they were doing,” the spokesperson said. “They selected the bottles with great care, choosing various Alta Langa wines, from the Cuvée Aurora and Cuvée Aurora Rosé to the Riserva 100 Mesi.”
Plea for public information
Banfi is best known internationally for its Brunello di Montalcino wines, which helped establish the Tuscan denomination’s global reputation from the early 1980s.
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The company said it had invested in bottle traceability systems for several years, meaning the stolen wines could potentially be tracked throughout the supply chain.
Rodolfo Maralli told Il Sole 24 Ore that the traceability measures could prove important to the investigation and make it more difficult for the bottles to be sold through unofficial or black-market channels.
Banfi has appealed to customers, retailers and members of the wine trade to report any suspicious offers or unofficial sales of the wines to the authorities or the company.
Small but mighty region
The small Italian appellation of Alta Langa (meaning ‘High Langhe’), spans nearly 460ha across 149 villages within the provinces of Asti, Alessandria, and Cuneo.
Deemed the birthplace of Italy’s first metodo classico wines, Alta Langa’s sparkling production dates back to the 19th century, and according to Italian wine authority and writer Dr. Katarina Andersson began with Count Sambuy’s family.
Alta Langa achieved DOC status in 2002, followed by DOCG status in 2011.
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