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Burglars struck at two Menlo Park businesses over the past several days.
Someone smashed a glass side door at Beltramo’s Wine & Spirits at 1540 El Camino Real on Thursday, July 14, and broke in, stealing bottles of wine with an estimated total value of about $65,000, according to a report from the Menlo Park Police Department.
It was a targeted theft, Diana Beltramo Hewitt, the daughter of co-owner Daniel Beltramo, told the Almanac. “They knew certainly what was of value and what they were coming for and where it was located,” she said.
The second commercial burglary took place Monday, July 18, when a man walked into Menlo Park Hardware at 700 Santa Cruz Ave., picked up two drills, a total value of $220, and left the store without paying for them, police said.
Police describe the man as white, with visible tattoos and wearing brown work pants and a baseball cap. He was last seen heading east on Valparaiso Avenue in a silver station wagon, police said.
Among the stolen wines at Beltramo’s were bottles of First Growth Bordeaux, “some of the most expensive wines in the world,” Ms. Beltramo Hewitt said. Prices range between $500 to more than $1,000 a bottle, she said.
Labels of the stolen wines included chateaus Margaux, Haut-Brion, Mouton Rothschild, Latour and Lafite Rothschild, she said.
After 134 years in business, Beltramo’s will close for good on Saturday, July 23, Ms. Beltramo Hewitt said. “We still have wine to sell,” including bottles of First Growth Bordeaux, she said.
Such an outrage!! I like to think we live in a civilized community with some respect for a family that has done so much to make it so. My heart goes out to the Beltramos. They have contributed so much to this community and are, I assume, closing their store with some pangs of nostalgia. Shame on those who made what was, I’m sure, already a painful closing of a much beloved store. My heart goes out to the family.
Elsie Floriani
At least the thief has good taste! He certainly can’t sell those prestigious bottles of Burgundy without causing some fuss. The word in the wine bars is that he’s cutting it all with some Barefoot Cabernet and relabeling it as House Wine at LB Steak.