Key takeaways:
- The couple was sentenced to four years in prison for stealing 45 bottles of wine worth over 1.6 million euros from the famed Atrio restaurant in Caceres, western Spain.
- The haul included two bottles from the French winery Chateau d’Yquem, one from 1806 listed on Atrio’s wine menu for €350,000 ($371,000) and another from 1883 for €45,000.
- The court ruling serves as a reminder of the importance of security measures in the hospitality industry, especially for high-value items such as fine wines.
A Spanish court on Monday sentenced a couple to four years in prison for stealing 45 bottles of wine worth over 1.6 million euros from the famed Atrio restaurant in Caceres, western Spain.
The court ruling, viewed by CNN, revealed that the Mexican woman and her Romanian-Dutch boyfriend had left the restaurant carrying the bottles of wine wrapped in hotel towels and hidden in travel bags to avoid breakage.
The haul included two bottles from the French winery Chateau d’Yquem, one from 1806 listed on Atrio’s wine menu for €350,000 ($371,000) and another from 1883 for €45,000.
The court also ordered the pair to pay compensation of 753,454 euros to the hotel. The woman, a former Mexican beauty queen, had checked into the hotel using a fake Swiss passport, according to Spanish press reports.
Police described the theft as “meticulously planned” and the couple were arrested in July 2022 in Croatia.
The court ruling serves as a reminder of the importance of security measures in the hospitality industry, especially for high-value items such as fine wines.
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