7/5/2023 0 Comments The wine thiefKardosh said that he would be monitoring online auction sites like WineBid to see if the bottles pop up, but he acknowledged it was possible that the thieves might not be that sophisticated. Presumably, wine burglars would need a plan for selling stolen bottles, which would require an understanding of the secondary wine market. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. The men eventually pleaded guilty to the thefts and admitted to being part of conspiracies to steal other high-value wines from Alexander’s Steakhouse in Cupertino and Fine Wines International in San Francisco. They specifically went after Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, a Burgundy producer whose Pinot Noirs can cost up to $10,000 a bottle. In 2014, two men pilfered more than $500,000 worth of wine from the French Laundry in Yountville. These aren’t the Bay Area’s first or most costly fine wine heists. Brian Feulner / Special to The Chronicle 2019 In this 2019 photo, Biondivino wine shop owner Ceri Smith sips a glass of Ca' dei Zago sparkling wine. “Some of those Barolos we’ll never get again,” said co-owner Essam Kardosh. Some of the bottles pilfered from Habibi Bar are rare and allocated, meaning the shop gets only a limited amount. Yet the dollar value doesn’t tell the full story. The most coveted bottles of Barolo, Barbaresco and Brunello can cost hundreds of dollars at retail, though much of what was stolen from Habibi Bar - like that Fabio Gea Barbaresco, which goes for $125 - was closer to the $80-$150 range. “How do you know the difference between Fabio Gea Barbaresco and Two-Buck Chuck?” “How do you know what to steal?” said Smith. Whoever swiped the bottles had to have at least a basic knowledge of high-end wine. More than $2,000 worth of wine was stolen from the shop last week. Habibi Bar co-owners Bahman Safari (left), Essam Kardosh and Andrew Paul Nelson. Police reports confirming the incidents were not immediately available. In order to grab the bottles from William Cross, two men filled up large camping backpacks, left, then came back and filled a recycling bin with more bottles, according to Sherman’s security camera footage. Wine is not exactly easy to purloin: It’s heavy (a typical bottle is about 3 pounds) and fragile. At both Habibi Bar and William Cross, cash, laptops, iPads and other valuables were left untouched only wine was taken. Throughout the pandemic, food and wine businesses have frequently been the victims of these crimes, with a slew of break-ins at restaurants.īut the Russian Hill incidents do not seem like run-of-the-mill petty theft. 1, there have been 1,959 burglaries in the city, which represents a 49.5% increase over the same period in 2020, according to San Francisco Police Department data. Property crimes in San Francisco are on the rise: Since Jan. Many bottles of expensive California Cabernet Sauvignons, Champagne and Burgundy also were taken, said Sherman. Italian wines were targeted there, too - all of the shop’s Brunello was gone, along with much of its Barolo inventory. Last May, two people broke into William Cross Wine Merchants on Polk Street and absconded with “a sizable amount” of wine, said owner Steven Sherman, who declined to say exactly how many bottles were taken. The two incidents come several months after another Russian Hill wine heist. Security footage shows a masked man prying open Biondivino’s outer door with a crowbar, then taking a blowtorch to a window.Ī man is seen attempting to break into Biondivino wine shop in Russian Hill, using a crowbar and then a blowtorch. Nearby, Italian-wine shop Biondivino had an attempted break-in around 5 a.m. Habibi Bar on Hyde Street says that late last Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, 65 bottles of wine worth a total of $2,253.43 were stolen - mostly Barolo and Barbaresco, two types of high-end wine from northern Italy. Russian Hill may have an Italophile wine thief on the loose, say the owners of wine shops that have recently been targeted. Brian Feulner / Special to The Chronicle 2019 Show More Show Less Biondivino Show More Show Less 3 of3īiondivino, a shop specializing in Italian wines, seen pre-pandemic in 2019. Security footage from Biondivino, a wine shop in S.F., shows a person attempting to break in on March 18, using a crowbar and a blowtorch. Security footage from Biondivino, a wine shop in S.F., shows a person attempting to break in on March 18 using a crowbar.
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