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Mystery surrounds the disappearance of nearly HK$2 million worth of classic French wines from the cellars of one the city's biggest storage companies, Crown Wine Cellars.
Crown reported the disappearance  to police from Shouson Hill on December 14 last year. Police classified the case as 'lost property' and did not investigate further.
The wines - 38 bottles of 1982 Chateau Petrus  valued at HK$1,786,000, 12 bottles of Chateau Margaux  worth HK$126,000, a bottle of  Cheval Blanc worth HK$9,000 and a bottle of 1970 Chateau Mouton Rothschild  valued at HK$4,100 - were owned by businessman Marvin Carsley,  a Hong Kong resident of 41 years.
Crawford International Loss Adjusters  valued the missing wines  at HK$1,929,982 and insurer  Chubb paid Mr Carsley in June this year.
The wines' disappearance came to light when Mr Carsley asked his staff in November last year to collect six bottles of Petrus for a client of his company, who wanted them for the Christmas season.
Crown Cellars could not locate the bottles.
Mr Carsley, who had more than 1,200 bottles of wine stored by the company from May 2005, said the worst part of the disappearance of the 52 bottles was that they were irreplaceable.
'Petrus 1982 is considered the vintage of the 20th century. You just don't find this amount of these wines on the open market any more,' he said.
Gregory De'eb,  general manager of Crown Wine Cellars, was surprised Mr Carsley had brought up the case after the matter was settled by insurers.
'We are  ... a little surprised that it is being raised a year later and only a few weeks after the client was asked to leave Crown Wine Cellars,' Mr De'eb said.
Mr Carsley countered that he had a long-term contract with the company, which he had paid for, and saw no reason to remove his wines.
'If there had been a physical break-in to the cellars, of course I would have removed my wines immediately,' he said. 'But there wasn't. There was a mysterious disappearance.'
Mr De'eb said there were still many unknowns about the  wine.
'There is nothing certain in this particular case, and certainly no one can claim ... this was theft. The bottles were and are simply unaccounted for,'  he said.
Mr De'eb said the incident had led to a complete review of  security.
Clients were  no longer allowed extended entry to  cellars, and   comprehensive insurance   for every bottle at full  market replacement value had also been introduced, he said.



Row over vintages vanishing from cellar