Speaking to Decanter from Kyiv, where she travelled to immediately after being informed of the crime last Monday (13 October), Ukrainian Wine Company CEO Svitlana Tsybak said she was shocked not only at the theft but the reaction by the Met police.
‘They asked the driver if he had been harmed. When he said no, they decided not to come to the site,’ Tsybak explained.
‘We called the police again when the driver arrived at the London City Bond (LCB) warehouse and asked them to at least come and issue an official document confirming the crime – something we urgently need for the insurance company.
‘They didn’t come and instead sent me an email apologising and offering mental health support.’
‘Come on, I’m from Ukraine! My husband is on the front line; we live in constant stress. My mental health is strong enough to handle this situation. But they still need to do their job and at least record the crime properly.’
Svitlana Tsybak, CEO of the Ukrainian Wine Company.
Thieves ‘knew what they were looking for’
Of 12 pallets of wine on board the lorry, five were stolen, equivalent to about 3,000 bottles, Ukrainian wine ambassador and UK-based wine educator Sera Karamshuk told Decanter.
‘The thieves knew what they were looking for,’ she said. ‘They were very specific. They took all of the sparkling wines from three different producers.’
Karamshuk said the thieves took all the sparkling wine from Grande Vallee and Chateau Chizay, as well as the entire shipment of Kolonist wines – both sparkling and still.
‘We know how it happened as it was all caught on CCTV,’ she added. ‘They had a mini van, so they were prepared to take a substantial amount. They parked up and loaded straight from the lorry to the van.’
‘What we suspect, based on the preparation, is that this is not the first time these thieves have targeted wine deliveries,’ Karamshuk said. ‘Which makes it worse that the crime is not being investigated – especially as there is CCTV.
Ivan and Alla Plachkov of Kolonist Winery. Credit: Ukrainian Wine Company UK
Huge loss
‘Any theft is awful, but this is fine wine from boutique producers, made while their country is under attack. So it really hurts.’
Karamshuk explained that the driver of the lorry, who had travelled from Ukraine, had arrived at night so stopped to rest in a CCTV-monitored carpark near London on his way from Dover to LCB’s Burton warehouse, awaiting his Monday morning delivery slot.
After discovering the Ukrainian wine theft, the driver called Tsybak and then, when the police said they would not attend the scene of the crime, continued to LCB who checked the paperwork to confirm what wine had been stolen.
The wine, including new releases, had been destined for restaurants, independent retailers and the Ukrainian Wine Company’s online shop.
‘This is a huge loss for our company,’ Tsybak told Decanter. ‘We had planned this shipment for a long time and were counting on it for Christmas sales, too.
Sparkling wine from Chateau Chizay. Credit: Chateau Chizay
‘3,000 bottles… gone’
‘What happened is beyond words. Around 3,000 bottles… gone. I can’t even describe the shock I felt when I received the news.
‘Now, the situation is even more complicated,’ Tsybak added. ‘The producers no longer have these wines in stock to reorder and, while we have credit, we don’t have any goods to sell to repay our wineries.
‘Of course, we will pay them, but for a young and small company like ours, this is a very serious loss.
‘Moreover, it’s deeply emotional. I know how difficult and dangerous it is to produce wine in Ukraine. And then to have it simply stolen…’
Tsybak and Karamshuk have urged members of the wine trade and the public to contact them, either through the Ukrainian Wine Company’s website or its social channel @uawines_uk, if they have any suspicions of the stolen wine being circulated.
