MADRID: Nearly 60,000 litres of premium red wine worth $2.7 million were lost at a Spanish winery after someone broke this weekend and opened the vats, the winery said on Tuesday.

Security camera footage released by the renowned Cepa 21 winery in the Ribera del Duero region of central Spain showed a person in a hoodie running from one large vat to another and turning on the taps, causing wine to pour out onto the floor.

The incident happened at 3.30am on Sunday, the winery said, adding that the amount of high-end wine lost could have filled 80,000 bottles.

The head of the establishment, Jose Moro, told a television channel it was clear the intruder’s sole purpose was to damage the business since no items were stolen during the break-in.

“It’s a case of doing harm for the sake of doing harm, by someone who can’t be very balanced, hasn’t got much common sense and is acting out of hatred,” he told the station. Moro said the intruder would have had to know how to operate the system to open the vats. “Everything indicates the person knew where they were,” he added.

The winery has filed a complaint with police, who confirmed they had laun­ched an inquiry.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2024