Prestigious restaurants hoard thousands of euros in bottles that are targeted for theftThey are “irreplaceable” pieces that belong to wineries that no longer existOnly a year has passed between the robberies committed in the Atrio restaurant in Cáceres and in the Coque restaurant in MadridWineries of prestigious restaurants hoard thousands of euros in bottles that are the target of thefts in which the economic part is the least important, since insurance compensates for the monetary loss but never the work of years in search of exclusive wines that create unique experiences.”They take things that are irreplaceable, It is a tragedy because it is not something that is paid for with money. They steal part of your history, bottles from wineries that no longer exist, that you have spent years looking for to build an identity for the restaurant,” Juan Manuel del Rey told EFE. , which in the Corral de la Morería (Madrid) excites with historical sherries. Expert like few others in the search for and achievement of archaeological jewels of the Marco de Jerez and Sa nlúcar de Barrameda (Cádiz) and Montilla-Moriles de Córdoba admits that it gives him “a little fear” to see that a dedication of years to the search for wines that only his diners can taste is under the spotlight of bands oriented to a hitherto unknown black market. The diner continues to share a few minutes in the cellar of 85,000 bottles and 4,000 references with Josep, who contrasts the collecting of labels that can inspire thieves with his “unbridled passion” for the world of wine. The bottle is a jewel, not quantifiable from a speculative point of view, but because it responds to a human and territorial landscape, something that cannot be replaced”, asserts who conveys knowledge and passion on his tour of the El Celler de Can Roca winery Alejandro Hernández, in charge of the impressive Rekondo winery (San Sebastián), an essential appointment for wine lovers, thinks the same: “Yes, you have to be more alert, but without becoming obsessed,” he tells EFE who runs a space that also has measures to protect its 60,000 bottles. Any theft – which is supposed to target a black market made up of people “with whims and a lot of money” – would be difficult to restore in a winery built over decades with a single objective: “That the customer leaves satisfied.” Tailor-made insuranceRestaurants and insurers negotiate “tailor-made” policies, in which the inventoried and valued bottles are subject to specific clauses that contemplate their revaluation in the future with temporary review mechanisms, given that many of the wines they own gain economic value over time. “The key word is inventory to ensure that the guaranteed amount is correct,” adds the person in charge of AXA, who, like all insurers, appears in criminal proceedings because after paying the indemnified insured, he becomes an injured party. Theft by order? Police sources specializing in the investigation of robberies explain to EFE that, although the objective was the same and in all likelihood the perpetrators acted by order, neither the execution nor the profile of the thieves had anything to do with it. Coque is a “standard robbery” in which the thieves – three hooded men who can be seen in the camera images – went for wine, as other times they have been able to steal jewelry, bags or mobile phones, sources say. That is why they consider that behind this theft could be an organized and specialized group, with knowledge to disable alarms with frequency inhibitors and prepared with tools to access their objectives. The planning and execution and It is more common than the one that in the early hours of October 27 starred in Atrio Constantin Gabriel Dumitru, arrested in July on the border with Croatia with his partner. Same booty, two modus operandi the same “luck” as Constantin, the sources consulted insist that there is no perfect robbery and are convinced that they will be arrested. The unknown is whether the wine can be recovered. Until now and three months after the arrest of the Atrio thief, not a drop of wine has been found. Investigators suspect that Constantin not only knew what he stole but also had a buyer. Several Spanish sommeliers and collectors targeted private Venezuelan, Mexican and Asian millionaires. It is the latter, specifically Chinese citizens, who are suspected by the police sources consulted by EFE in the case of the stolen wines in Coque. Expert groups in all kinds of thefts in Madrid currently have many receivers on the black market Chinese, suggest EFE as a hypothesis.