What is defined as the most innovative boutique winery in the DO Ribera del Duero, Cepa 21, has suffered an unusual sabotage. An unknown person dressed in a raincoat entered through a door early in the morning from Saturday to Sunday, at 3:30 a.m., in this winery in Castrillo de Duero (Valladolid) and opened the keys to three stainless steel tanks, losing up to 60,000 liters of wines that were to end up directly in the sewer.
The winery has sent to the Civil Guard, where the complaint was filed, the images captured by the security cameras, in which the face of the assailant cannot be clearly seen. Specifically, wines from the Cepa 21, Malabrigo and Horcajo brands (the winery’s top brands) have been lost. This riverside firm states that the losses are very important. They remember that in the last year these high-end wines from the winery experienced a sales growth of 15%.
Precisely these three wines, plus the Hito Rosado, are the ones that José Moro Espinosa, president of Bodegas Cepa 21, had announced that he would present on March 5 in Barcelona. at a meeting with the press in Barcelona. The market value of the wine would have reached 2.5 million euros, according to estimates by the ownership of this winery. The sabotaged red wines were insured, although the winery reminds us that the insurance company does not cover the final market value.
In statements to La Vanguardia’s Comer channel, José Moro stated that “we sense things” regarding the authorship of the sabotage, although he specifies that “we must proceed with stealth and silence so as not to hinder the Civil Guard’s investigation.” The agents of this police force collected evidence yesterday afternoon at the Cepa 21 facilities. According to José Moro, the assailant, who did not take any valuable objects, acted “fluently” through the warehouse, and believes that “he knew from where he moved.”
The president of the regulatory council of the DO Ribera del Duero, Enrique Pascual, has lamented from Mexico in statements to the Comer channel about events that he describes as “pure and simple vandalism.” He says he cannot understand what happened, and adds that “there is no explanation for doing harm for the sake of doing unusual harm.”
This winery on what is known as the ‘Golden Mile’ of the DO Ribera del Duero, founded in 2000, has had famous shareholders, such as the soccer players Ronaldo Nazario Da Lima, Manolo Sanchís, Emilio Butragueño and José Antonio García Calvo or the journalist Sergio Sauca, businessman Fernando Martín and actor Imanol Arias.
