(TDB) - A group of thieves dressed in lab overalls have broken into two Barolo estates and stolen over £160,000 worth of wine.

As reported by Wine Spectator, the first incident took place on the night of 25 June at Cordero di Montezemolo in La Morra where the robbers made away with 250 cases of Barolo 2012 and Barbera d’Alba 2013 worth around £75,000.

Six men entered the estate around midnight, cut through a fence and broke into the winery by forcing open a window.

The second robbery took place on 13 July when a gang of three, thought to be from the same group behind the earlier theft, broke into hillside Armando Parusso estate in Monforte d’Alba and stole 120 cases of wine worth in the region of £85,000.

Owner Marco Parusso discovered the theft the following morning when he noticed his cellar door had been prized open and that a wine shipment bound for Germany was missing.

Parusso told the Wine Spectator that the burglars had made of with some of his most prized wines including his Barolo Riserva 2006 Gold Label, of which only 200 cases were made.

Security cameras at the estate show three thieves disguised in lab overalls carrying cases of wine into Parusso’s truck, which they got going with tractor fuel. Thus far, local police have no suspects and have not located the truck.

This isn’t the first robbery of its kind in Italian wine country. In December 2015 thieves broke into Fontanafredda’s warehouse in Seralunga d’Alba stealing around170 cases of Barolo and Barbera.