La Tour d’Argent is one of the oldest and most famous restaurants in Paris. Specifically, this establishment is 442 years old and the fork was invented within its walls, during the reign of Henry III, with the purpose of preventing its renowned diners from staining their clothes.
In addition, the establishment located in the V district of the French city inspired the restaurant in the Disney film ‘Ratatouille’. Yes, the one in which a mouse is the creator of the delicious dishes. Of course, the inspiration was limited to the restaurant’s image.
Aside from this anecdote, La Tour d’Argent has caused a scandal in the world of gastronomy and oenology. According to the newspaper Le Parisien, they have filed a complaint regarding the theft of 83 bottles of wine from their cellar, with an estimated value of 1.5 million euros.
It so happens that it is not known when exactly the theft of the bottles occurred, since their absence was discovered during a routine inventory, while the last one was carried out in January 2020. The winery stores more than 300,000 bottles in two basements. , being the largest in Paris, with more than 15,000 references.
Thus, the theft of the 83 bottles could have occurred at any time since January 2020. The police have not found evidence of the theft and the restaurant refuses to comment on the matter.
Among the missing wines from the restaurant are bottles of Romanée Conti, a wine from a prestigious estate in Burgundy. It is one of the most expensive wines in the world. Specifically, a 2011 vintage sells for 16,500 euros, while if it dates back to 1999 the figure rises to 31,200 euros. In fact, two bottles of Romanée Conti from 1945 broke the record for the most expensive wine in the world, selling for $558,000 and $496,000 at auction in 2018.
The complete list of stolen bottles has not been revealed at the moment, but they have reported from Le Parisien that the value of the missing wines exceeds one and a half million euros.
In any case, thieves will find it difficult to sell the loot without raising suspicions, since the bottles are numbered and the references are very difficult to obtain. The complaint by La Tour d’Argent was filed on January 25 and, at this time, the third division of the Paris Judicial Police is taking charge of the investigation.
