Disgruntled Ex Employee Indentified As Top Bodega Wine Sabateur
A Spanish woman who allegedly sabotaged a high-end winery, earlier this year, by opening the taps so 60,000 litres of vino worth over GBP 2 million was left sloshing around on the floor has been arrested.
The footage allegedly shows the suspect, who was not named but who had recently been fired, running up to one of the giant wine vats and opening it, causing litres of the pricey booze to splash out onto the floor.
The CCTV images were filmed at the Cepa 21 winery, owned by Jose Moro and located in Castrillo de Duero, in Valladolid, Spain, at around 3:30 am on Sunday morning, 18th February.
Local media reported that the attack left 60,000 litres of wine worth over EUR 2.5 million on the floor after three vats in total were opened.
The second two were empty but the first one was not, with 20,000 litres of wine from the Horcajo brand lost, which was reportedly all of this year’s production, and 40,000 litres of Malabrigo brand wine lost, representing about a third of this year’s production.
Moro filed a complaint with the Civil Guard over the matter, who arrested the woman who had been fired two days before. The company said she had been employed on a short-term, one-year contract.
A police spokesman said: “From the very beginning, we worked with the hypothesis that the perpetrator of the crime was an employee who knew the facilities perfectly and was familiar with the machinery and the wine production process.”
Even though nothing was stolen, the financial hit is significant for Moro, who said that the person who carried out the attack knew what they were doing and knew how to operate a wine vat.
A trial against the woman will take place at a court in Valladolid, in the province of Burgos, northern Spain.
