Police Suspect Sour Grapes After Vandal Uncorks Winery’s Vats

On the outskirts of Modesto, in the city of Ceres, the wine flowed like . . . well, like wine.

Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department investigators say that shortly before sunrise Saturday, a vandal created a virtual pink sea by opening the valves of three huge storage vats at the Bronco Wine Co.

For five hours, wine poured unnoticed from the vats like water from a hydrant, draining them of 344,000 gallons of white wine and another 106,000 gallons of red (vintages unknown).

Sheriff’s Department Detective Jane Irwin said Sunday that the lost wine was ready for marketing and was worth $800,000. She identified about a third of it as Chenin Blanc. The rest she described simply as “dry.”

Complex Valves

Irwin said detectives suspect that the saboteur may be a disgruntled former or current employee because the complex valves on the vats would be hard for an outsider to open. She said employees of the Central Valley winery are being interviewed.

Bronco Wine executive John Franzia, reached at his home Sunday, was asked to reflect on what had happened. He was not in a good mood.

“There’s nothing I can do about it. It’s done,” he said.

The spillage was discovered at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday by a winery security guard, who on his rounds five hours earlier found that everything was dry.

When deputies arrived, they rolled into a 3-foot-deep expanse of liquid that workers had pumped into an adjacent field and alongside the road.

‘Holiday Punch’ Bowl

Irwin said she initially thought that it was water dumped by recent storms. But rain, she said, doesn’t have a bouquet or a blush. She said that wine rose to the doors of their patrol cars.

It was, in the words of one person on the scene, like being in a big “holiday punch” bowl.

Later Saturday, a second act of vandalism was discovered in a winery warehouse, where someone had attempted to burn a 1989 Jaguar that was parked inside. Registered to Bronco Wine, Irwin said it was purchased as a gift for a company executive.

It reportedly was delivered to the winery on Friday.

Damage to the $50,000 car was confined mainly to the driver’s seat, where the owner’s manual apparently was ignited. Fire officials believe that, after the arsonist closed the car door, the flames died from a lack of oxygen.

Authorities say both acts of vandalism may be the work of the same person or persons.