Wine burglars have long targeted the rarest bottles in Bay Area

Wine is money. And rare and valuable wines are increasingly being targeted by astute Bay Area criminals looking to capitalize on the expensive tastes of the world’s wealthiest citizens.

The latest break-in went down Christmas Day at the French Laundry — the renowned Michelin-three-star restaurant in Yountville often cited as the best restaurant in the country and possibly the world. Burglars made off with 76 bottles, most of them the prized Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, a high-value French Burgundy.

But the high-profile rip-off, with a take estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, isn’t the first time criminals have set their sights on the elusive wine — known in the industry as DRC.

“Thieves have been stealing this wine because it is so rare and expensive,” said Justin Grover, whose San Francisco rare-wine shop, Fine Wines International, was burglarized in 2013.

Of the eight Pinot Noir wines produced on the Romanée-Conti estate, the most sought-after bottles are the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti Grand Cru. The estate produces only a few hundred cases each year, and a bottle can fetch more than $15,000, depending on the vintage.

Those with direct access to the distributors are few, and as with other luxury products — art, real estate and vintage cars — demand is ballooning. Moreover, Romanée-Conti has become a favorite among the growing elite in Asia, and the rise in international demand is pushing the price of even recent vintages to new levels, according to wine industry experts.

“We have some access to DRC,” Grover said. “But it’s getting harder and harder to get because the global demand is so strong.”

Grover’s business was targeted twice in recent years. In March 2013, burglars sawed through a roll-up metal door and made off with “a sizable amount” of wine, he said.

Zeroed in on top wines

“They left other wines of value and only took the DRC wines,” he said. “That’s what they did at the French Laundry.”

Since the break-in at his store, Grover said he’s increased security, which he said likely spooked burglars who also tried to break in last April. No arrests have been made, said Officer Gordon Shyy, a San Francisco police spokesman.

In January 2013, burglars hit Saratoga’s acclaimed Plumed Horse, which has one Michelin star. Like the French Laundry job, criminals with an obvious knowledge of fine wine skipped lesser bottles and zeroed in on the most expensive bottles.

“We had quite a bit of Domaine Romanée-Conti at the time, and they stole every bottle we had,” owner Joshua Weeks said Wednesday.

The robbers stole several hundred bottles of wine, including bottles of Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon, a sought-after Napa Valley wine that was also boosted in the French Laundry burglary. The total take from the Plumed Horse heist was estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, Weeks said.

While the burglars target the good stuff, wineries and dealers are taking measures to track the provenance of cult and high-value wines. Wineries use digital tracking and put serial numbers on labels and codes on the bottles themselves.

But international demand makes tracking the pilfered bottles more challenging as lesser-known dealers in other countries enter the marketplace.

“What happens with these expensive bottles a lot of times is you will see them at auction with the serial number covered,” said David Fink, a hotelier and restaurateur in Carmel whose restaurant, Bouchée, was hit several years ago. Burglars took several expensive bottles, including Romanée-Conti.

Tracking is key

Catching criminals behind the robberies, though, is a waning priority for many law enforcement agencies in California, Shyy said. Many property crimes were reduced to misdemeanors under Proposition 47, which passed in November. It’s up to restauranteurs and dealers to be scrupulous about tracking wine in order to limit the market for hot bottles.

“It was a terrible feeling when we got wine stolen from us,” Fink said. “I feel really bad for (French Laundry owner Thomas Keller), who is a friend. Those wines are very difficult to replace.”