French wine theft foiled
Thieves who stole € 350,000 of fine wines from luxury hotel Domaine de Rymska in Burgundy tried to hit French police with some prized bottles during a car chase.
Thieves threw several grand cru wines at pursuing police as they raced towards Lyon, but eventually abandoned their getaway van after hitting a toll barrier, reported Le Journal de Saône- et-Loire.
One of the hotel’s owners alerted the local gendarmerie after being woken by an alarm triggered by the burglars. The hotel also reportedly suffered a cellar break-in 24 hours earlier, but it wasn’t clear whether the incidents were connected. Hotel general manager Raphäel Meyer told Decanter that he didn’t wish to comment, but said ‘lots of grand cru wines have been stolen’.