Woman arrested in Spanish wine cellar intrusion case

A case of vandalism in a Spanish winery first reported by the drinks trade In February, a woman was arrested and released on bail.

The case, which saw the destruction of high-value wines worth more than €2.5 million, now appears to have progressed with the Guardia Civil arresting a woman in connection with the incident.

The woman is believed to have sought revenge after being kicked out of the cellar, according to recent reports, and is now out on bail.

Intruder

According to information published in February by db, an intruder entered the Cepa 21 winery in Castrillo de Duero, Valladolid, Spain, and opened the vats, spilling 60,000 liters of liquid.

The president of Cepa 21, José Moro, said The Vanguardia that he was “bittersweet” after the arrest, although he was also relieved at the progress of the case, but that he could not understand “how such sacrilege could have been committed”.

He told the publication that the spilled wine could no longer be enjoyed and that the company had also suffered economically from the situation.

Images

Security footage released by the producer earlier this year showed an unidentified person running between large vats and turning the taps, releasing tens of thousands of liters of fermentation liquid onto the cellar floor.

The vandalism, which occurred on February 18, saw a masked person enter the winery at 4:30 a.m. and open the values ​​of five stainless steel vats.

A spokesperson for the winery told the BBC that the two most expensive varieties produced by the company, its Horcajo and Malabrigo brands, were out of the vats in less than a minute, and they therefore believed that the intruder knew both the estate and its land.

At the time, Moro also told the Spanish channel TVE that the intruder had not stolen anything and that it seemed that the only aim was to cause damage.

He said: “This is about doing harm for the sake of doing harm, by someone who is not very balanced, who does not have a lot of common sense and who is acting out of hatred. »