$700K worth of wine and merchandise stolen from Venice wine store

Burglars broke into a high-end wine store in Venice, stealing $700,000 worth of wine. 

The break-in happened around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday at Lincoln Fine Wines, a high-end wine store in Venice.

The store is still waiting for the Los Angeles Police Department to send a detective, but it is not waiting to get the word out because the robbers may have a dilemma on their hands, once they try to sell everything they stole.

“Château d'yquem here, a dessert wine from Bourdeaux. $500 a bottle,” said Nick Martinelli, a wine buyer at Lincoln Fine Wines. 

Martinelli is the wine buyer at Lincoln Fine Wines, where he says at least two robbers took bottles that were twice that price.

He says the thieves sawed a square hole in the ceiling, lowered themselves down with a rope and proceeded to steal upwards of $700,000 dollars worth of merchandise.

As many as 700 bottles, Martinelli says, some worth more than $3,000 dollars each. From château petrus to château la fite.

“Magnums, three liters, giuseppe quintarelli, which is even more rare than la fite,” Martinelli said. 

These rare and expensive labels are works of art, which experts and wine aficionados know.

“They knew exactly what to take. They didn't just jump in and start taking random things,” Martinelli said. 

But that may also be their downfall, he explains. The burglars will have to fence the bottles somehow. Their real value would come from a collector, maybe someone who doesn't even know he's buying stolen goods.

So Lincoln Fine Wines is in contact with not only the LAPD but also other retailers and auction houses.

“If they get an offer on certain wines, they can flag the police or let us know,” Martinelli said. 

And, for added incentive, the store is issuing another reason to do the right thing.

“$10,000 dollar reward for anyone who has any information. On the theft, the thieves or anything at all,” Martinelli said. 

The burglars also snagged a 1971 bottle of "last drop" scotch right as the store's alarms started going off.