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Dense and opulent, with a sweet nose, $20K bottle of wine stolen in Hopkinton

E-mail|Link|Comments () August 1, 2009 07:34 PM

By Terri Schwartz, Globe Staff

This was no bottle of "Two Buck Chuck." A Hopkinton liquor store owner says thieves stole a bottle of wine worth $20,000 from his store.

Seen this bottle?

Clelland Johnson, owner of Hopkinton Wine & Spirits Inc., said he has surveillance camera video of two men purloining the 1945 bottle of Chateau Mouton Rothschild.

A woman whom he suspects was working with the two men came into the store at the same time and distracted the store clerk by asking a series of questions but then left without buying anything.

The thieves also made off with a 1992 bottle valued at $300 and two 2000 bottles valued at $875 in the caper, which happened at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, he said.

“We are going to implement some tighter security procedures,” he vowed.

Johnson inherited the $20,000 bottle of wine five years ago when he bought the store. He said there are 40 to 50 other high-priced bottles of wine in the cooler where the Mouton Rothschilds were, and various ports and wines around the store that range in price up to $1,000.

The wine is described on the store's website as having a "remarkably exotic, overripe, sweet nose of black fruits, coffee, tobacco, mocha, and Asian spices. It is a dense, opulent, and rich wine, with layers of creamy fruit. It is structured, powerful, and tannic."

Johnson said his insurance company will cover most of the loss. He is continuing to work with police to discover the identity of the thieves.