3,000 Bottles in Three Hours: The Barolo Heist at Conterno Fantino
Four masked men, the winery's own forklifts and vans, and a haul of 2021 and 2022 Barolo that investigators are still hunting.
Il Vino Bello ·
Some time around midnight on 16 September, a camera inside a winery on the hills of Monforte d'Alba recorded a figure in black, face covered, walking through the storeroom. By the time the crew left, roughly three hours later, more than 3,000 bottles of Barolo had gone with them. The winery was Conterno Fantino, one of the best-known names in the Langhe, and the news only became public on 22 September.
A night's work
According to the first reports, published by La Stampa and picked up across the Piemonte press, four people took part. They wore balaclavas, dark gloves and black clothes, and they came on foot, up through the vineyards rather than along the road. Cuneo24, reporting La Stampa's account, says they probably got in through a small side window that had no alarm.
Inside, they did not improvise. They used the winery's own forklifts to move the cases, driving them with a skill and knowledge of the place that Targatocn described as suspicious in itself. The loot went into two of the estate's own vans. Rather than start the engines next to the houses nearby, the crew pushed the vans downhill with the motors off for about 150 metres and only fired them up once they reached the provincial road. Before leaving, they even parked the forklifts back in their places. No bottles were broken, and the only visible damage was to the entrance gate.
What was taken
The thieves were selective. The haul was mostly Barolo from the 2021 and 2022 vintages, including magnums and three-litre jeroboams, and several reports say it included bottles of the estate's Barolo Ginestra Vigna Sorì Ginestra, one of its flagship wines. The total value has been reported as several hundred thousand euros. Winemag notes that a precise figure has not been made public.
Conterno Fantino was founded in 1982 by Claudio Conterno and Guido Fantino, and the cellar sits on the Bricco della Ginestra hill above Monforte. Cuneo24 reports that the winery carried on at full pace the next day, receiving Italian and foreign visitors as usual.
The investigation
The Carabinieri of the Bra company are leading the case, coordinated by the public prosecutor's office. They are working through the winery's camera footage and cross-checking phone records to see which mobile cells the crew's phones may have used. As of the first reports, neither the vans nor the bottles had been found.
Investigators are looking at the possibility that the theft was carried out to order. Cuneo24 describes that hypothesis as considered well founded. Winemag is more cautious, calling it a line of inquiry rather than an established fact. Both point to the same clues: the choice of bottles, the speed of the job and how well the crew knew the building.
Why stolen Barolo is hard to sell
Three thousand bottles is a large haul and an awkward one. As Winemag observes, wines that can be identified by producer, vintage, vineyard and bottle size are likely to catch the eye of professional buyers if a large lot turns up. The magazine adds, as its own assessment rather than anything from investigators, that the risk is the opposite: the wine being broken up into small lots and sold through many channels.
That is why the owners have asked the whole trade for help. Their appeal, as quoted by Cuneo24 from La Stampa, was simple: "If anyone receives unusual offers, call the Carabinieri immediately" (our translation). Winemag reports that the message is aimed at importers, distributors, restaurants, wine shops and collectors alike.
For anyone buying Barolo, the advice is the same as it has always been, only sharper. Buy from the producer, from merchants you know, or from sellers who can show where a bottle has been. Be wary of 2021 or 2022 Barolo from a top address, and above all large formats, offered well below the going price with a vague story attached.
Not the first this year
The Monforte theft is not an isolated case. Winemag reports that earlier this summer around 3,000 bottles of Alta Langa were stolen from Banfi's site at Strevi, in the province of Alessandria, with some similarities in method. No link between the two has been established. Together they are a reminder that the bottles quietly resting in Piemonte's cellars are worth a great deal, and that wineries built for welcoming visitors are not always built to keep thieves out.
Buying from the source
If the story leaves you wanting to buy your Piemonte wine as close to the source as possible, the calendar is kind. From 3 to 5 October, Il Nizza è fills Palazzo Crova in Nizza Monferrato with more than 100 Nizza DOCG wines across six tasting stations, a good chance to taste across the denomination, a prime showcase for Barbera, before buying from the wineries direct.
Sources
- Cuneo24, reporting La Stampa (22 Sep 2026): https://www.cuneo24.it/2026/09/furto-da-centinaia-di-migliaia-di-euro-alla-cantina-conterno-e-fantino-di-monforte-dalba-360621
- Targatocn (22 Sep 2026): https://www.targatocn.it/2026/09/22/leggi-notizia/argomenti/cronaca-1/articolo/ladri-di-barolo-in-azione-a-monforte-dalba-colpo-da-centinaia-di-migliaia-di-euro-alla-cantina-1.html
- Winemag (23 Sep 2026): https://www.winemag.it/maxi-furto-di-barolo-nelle-langhe-rubate-3-mila-bottiglie-a-monforte-dalba/
- Dissapore: https://www.dissapore.com/notizie/colpo-gobbo-nelle-langhe-furto-da-centinaia-di-migliaia-di-euro-alla-cantina-conterno-fantino/
- Cronache di Gusto (22 Sep 2026): https://www.cronachedigusto.it/vino-e-dintorni/maxi-furto-di-barolo-nelle-langhe-oltre-3-mila-bottiglie-sparite-dalla-cantina-conterno-e-fantino/
- dpa via inFranken (22 Sep 2026): https://www.infranken.de/welt/italien-masken-maenner-klauen-tausende-flaschen-vom-koenig-der-weine-art-6397766
- DoctorWine, Il Nizza è 2026: https://www.doctorwine.wine/event/nizza-monferrato-nizza-e-2026/?lang=en