Wine crime: Madrid cellar theft, fraud in France
Fine wine with an estimated value of at least €150,000 (£130,000) has been stolen from the cellars of two-star Michelin restaurant Coque in central Madrid.
Spanish police were investigating after thieves broke into Coque restaurant’s wine cellar via a next-door property and stole about 132 bottles, managing to evade security measures.
Some wines could be hard to replace, said the communications director for Coque, Cristina Pérez Olmos.
The team was advised not to name bottles taken, but she said family-owned Coque has built up the wine cellar over many years. ‘Then to have someone just come in and take it is quite awful,’ she said, adding the cellar was nevertheless back open as part of the experience the restaurant offers to diners.
She joined Rafael Sandoval, who manages the wine cellar and is one of three brothers behind Coque, to warn others in the industry to be on their guard. The theft at Coque in Madrid came a year after thieves stole prized wines from Atrio, a two-star Michelin restaurant in
