Christmas Day wasn't all that jolly for Thomas Keller, the head chef and owner of Napa Valley's famed restaurant The French Laundry. The SFist reported this morning, in what sounds like a Bad Santa heist, that on December 25 the establishment was broken into and robbed of several bottles of wine that were worth at the very least $3,000 each.
— Thomas Keller (@Chef_Keller) December 30, 2014
— Thomas Keller (@Chef_Keller) December 30, 2014
— Thomas Keller (@Chef_Keller) December 30, 2014
Last night Keller tweeted about the event, writing that Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (which sells there for up to $7,950 for the 1999 Richebourg, Grand Cru) and Screaming Eagle (which costs $6,500 for the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon) were among the stolen names. He also urges anyone who may have information to email him at media@tkrg.com. Around the same time, the restaurant's official Instagram posted the below photo that shows the broken front door with the caption making reference to their reputable wine collection and the severity of the theft.
"The French Laundry wine program is, as many of you know, singular and distinct. We look forward to rebuilding our cellar in the meantime and plan to get to the bottom of this disheartening act immediately." They also completely won by ending the caption with "#TheGrinchThatStoleXmas."
It's been pretty widely known that The French Laundry is going through some major kitchen renovations—it was actually closed for Christmas—which apparently made it an easy target for a thief (or thieves). We can't imagine a wine novice would have thought to rob the establishment, especially considering whoever it was knew to target specific bottles, so we're pretty curious to see who it was and whether or not it was an inside job.
