François B., a 57-year-old maintenance technician who worked for several leading wine estates in Beaune, admitted to stealing the wine over a seven-year period.
He was finally caught after CCTV showed him stealing four bottles of fine wine from Albert Bichot in February.
Police officers raided the cellars at his house and his mother’s house, where they found approximately 8,000 bottles of stolen wine.
François B., whose full name was not revealed in court, did not drink a single drop of the wine that he swiped.
He did not sell any of the bottles for profit either. They simply sat in the cellars, fully intact, and they were returned to their rightful owners.
François B., a married father-of-three was eventually charged with stealing 1,059 bottles and 159 magnums from Albert Bichot, plus 226 bottles and 25 magnums from Joseph Drouhin. The wines had an estimated value of €641,805, which equates to approximately £550,000.
He was accused of stealing thousands of additional wines from other producers over a 15-year period, but the court case focused on the bottles he took from Albert Bichot and Joseph Drouhin between 2017 and 2024.
A judge in Dijon sentenced François B. to a 12-month suspended sentence. He must also pay a €10,000 fine.
Albert Bichot, which recovered all of the stolen wines, only sought a symbolic €1 in compensation. Sandrine Anne, who represents the prestigious Burgundy producer, said: ‘We don’t want to overwhelm this man. He was a valued, dedicated employee. That’s why he had access to all the secure premises as a maintenance technician.’
Nathalie Lepert-de-Courville, who defended François B., said he has been diagnosed with kleptomania, which is defined as a compulsive urge to steal.
‘He didn’t drink anything,’ she added. ‘Every month, he bought other bottles to share on Sundays with his hunting friends, but the stolen bottles never moved.’
Francois B. told the judge that he stole the wine ‘to fill a void’ as he was suffering from a deep depression. He added that stealing the wines was ‘more mechanical than anything else’.
While in police custody, he revealed that he simply liked to ‘sit in the middle of his cellars to contemplate’ the wines.
He was described as ‘half-kleptomaniac, half-collector’ in court. Detectives reviewed his bank accounts, which suggested that he had not sold any of the wines.
TV news outlet CNews described it as one of the largest cellar heists in French history, but François B. had no criminal record, so he was spared a custodial sentence.