(Aug. 3) – The thieves who hit a Massachusetts liquor store demonstrated a remarkable nose for fine wine. And a change of heart.
While a woman distracted the clerk, two men slipped into the cooler at Hopkinton Wine & Spirits on July 29 and emerged with four pricey bottles. Among them, The Boston Globe reported, was a 64-year-old Chateau Mouton Rothschild worth $20,000.
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Now there’s an even more remarkable development. The thieves have returned the precious vintage.
"They said they had it under lock and key," the store's owner, Clelland Johnson, told the Globe. "I'm quite elated."
An anonymous tipster apparently recognized one of the suspects from the store's surveillance footage. The tipster reached out through an intermediary, and the bottle was handed over to Hopkinton police Detective Scott van Raalten on Monday, said the Globe.
Among wine mavens, Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1945 has long been a coveted vintage. At a Honk Kong auction in May 2008, a case of 12 bottles sold for $155,128, said industry Web site Fine Wine Press. And according to the Globe, the vintage is now valued at close to $800 per ounce.
The other three stolen bottles, valued at a total of $2,050, are still missing. And while investigators are following several leads, no arrests have yet been made, said the Globe.
