[gigi]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Art...onal/TopStories

VANCOUVER -- Capers by sophisticated thieves with a taste for the good life are regular escapist fare at the movies.

But a real-life heist by someone with an acute knowledge of "nothing but the best" has stripped the priciest restaurant in Whistler of its most prized bottles of wine.

"I feel like I've lost a part of myself, a part of my history," André St. Jacques, owner of the Bearfoot Bistro, said yesterday, as he mourned the disappearance of an estimated $200,000 worth of expensive wines from the tony eatery's showcase cabinet.

While it would take something like 25,000 glasses of ordinary house wine to be worth that much, the burglars with the princely palates amassed that value with just 65 bottles of wine.

They included a collection of vintage Mouton Rothschild Bordeaux from 1946 to 1982, some with labels personally signed by the late Baron Phillippe de Rothschild.

Others were signed by some of the artists, including Andy Warhol, who designed the chateau's annual labels.

"They are real collectors' items. How do you even put a value on them?" Mr. St. Jacques lamented.

Also on the thieves' exclusive list were 11 vintage bottles from Lafite Rothschild, between 1945 and 1990. The 1945 Lafite was the most expensive of all the wines taken, priced at $7,000.

Admit it....it was YOU!