Thief plans wine tasting? Thief plans wine tasting? (March 10, 2004)

Someone with an apparent taste for fine wines stole between $10,000 to $12,000 worth of wine last week from a locked storage unit at a Menlo Park apartment complex, police said.

The thief broke the padlock to the unit, located in the underground parking garage in the apartment complex at 2140 Santa Cruz Ave., on or before March 5, Menlo Park police said.

The haul consisted of several dozen bottles, including four bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild and 11 bottles of Crystal champagne, said Sgt. Mike Amaral. Chateau Lafite Rothschild wines costs between $40 to $2,500 a bottle, according to the winery's Web site. Crystal champagne retails for $149 a bottle at A-1 Liquors in Palo Alto.

None of the other storage units were touched. Police ask anyone with information to call the Menlo Park Police Department at 330-6300.

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