I’ve written about the generosity of wine lovers before. I’m continually amazed at the large sums of money that people are willing to pour into glasses for sometimes complete strangers who profess a love or an interest in wine. What’s even more remarkable, is how many of these folks have literally thousands upon thousands of dollars of wine in their cellars behind unlocked doors. Of course, it’s a pretty big hassle to figure out some security system just for your wine cellar, but in the last few years there seem to be an increasing number of wine thefts.

The latest of these happened just yesterday in Atherton, a wealthy community that’s about 40 minutes down the road from me. Apparently thieves broke into a private home and went straight for the good stuff: 177 bottles of wine worth over $500,000. While the news report doesn’t contain much information about the wines themselves, they do mention that on average these bottles were worth $3000 apiece.

These thieves certainly knew what they were after. The police are telling folks to be on the lookout for great bottles at much lower than expected prices, but if these thieves knew enough to target this collection, they probably know how to unload them for top dollar, as well.

It’s a real shame. Wine theft is somehow worse than stealing a bicycle or a digital camera. I hope they catch the bastards, and I hope you are a little more careful about your fancy wine cellar if you’ve got one.

Thanks to reader Andy for the tip.