Some owners of a nice wine cellar in California came home from vacation to find that someone took about US$ 100000 of wine from them. The crooks only took the better wines, including a magnum of Ch. Petrus 1959 estimated at $11000. The story is in the NY Times at
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Wine theft is very common in France, especially in the major cities, where people talk about having their cellars "visited." It's a conundrum because the better the door you put on your cellar -- most buildings of a certain age have a basement where each apartment has good cellar space -- the more attention it draws.
Our cellar in Paris was visited, but luckily they only took what was nearest the door. This included some great 89 Loire and some good Cornas, but it could have been much worse. Because we didn't have the appropriate receipts we weren't reimbursed, but in SF we were sure to declare the wine ahead of time to Allstate, who assured us it would be reimbursed at replacement value in case of theft or fire (but not earthquake). Fortunately that cellar was only visited by us and our friends!
-E
When this was first reported I posted this on another forum:
"I'm cynical enough that almost every time I read of a big theft the question of insurance fraud pops into my head. But in a super-wealthy community, it wouldn't be shocking that cherry picking thieves could get a very high average value from the stars of a big collection. As noted, at least one was a magnum (and I'd call $6000 low for value of '59 Petrus 1.5L). Throw in things like good vintages of La Tache/ Romanee Conti or Jayer's Cros Parantoux, '59 TBAs, etc, and it wouldn't be hard to average $3000 (even if some of the bottles were only worth $1500). "
It seems now they agree with me and have upped the value of the '59 Petrus. :) Still, it's funny that the other examples they use (mags of '59 Beychevelle and '02 Jones Family) are well under $1000 in value, so they need a few more really expensive bottles to reach a $3K average.
Emery, I think I reported here a few years ago as I was moving my cellar that I discovered some missing wine. Workmen who had been in basement were prime suspects. Apparently a fondness for Tuscan wine, as some Brunellos, a '95 Rancia CCR, and a Montiano were the missing. Glad they didn't like Bordeaux, Burgundy, or Piedmont, potential losses would have been higher. :)
No wonder English is such a difficult language for foreigners to learn! that sentence has two possible, and completely opposite, meanings!
pk
Having clear that one up, why and how your were moving the space under your house ? :)
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