At the beginning of the month, the cellars of Marchesi Antinori in Tuscany were breached in spectacular fashion. Over the course of a weekend, thieves carted 30,000 bottles of wine worth up to €5 million into getaway vans using the company’s own forklifts. Staff only discovered what had happened on the Monday morning. ‘A theft of this scale and value has never happened before in Italy,’ Renzo Cotarella, the company’s chief executive, told an Italian newspaper.

Marchesi Antinori has come to embody the resurgence of the Super Tuscans

It is a tragedy for one of Europe’s great businesses. It was founded in the 14th century and is still in the family, presided over by Piero Antinori. In recent decades it has come to embody the resurgence, bordering on domination, of a specific kind of Italian wine, the Super Tuscans. Solaia, ‘the sunny one’, is their best offering, coming from the brightest part of the vineyard. The most famous wine they produce is the eponymous product of the same estate, Tignanello, now probably most associated with the Duchess of Sussex. Both regularly retail for upwards of £300 a bottle.

Even if you could afford it, you might want something for Monday to Thursday, or something special for the weekend which doesn’t make you feel as if you too have been robbed. That’s not to say these wines aren’t worth it, just that they might be a once-in-a-decade treat. But the misfortune of the dear Antinori got me thinking about the other wonderful wines they produce which will cost you slightly less but deliver bold and intense flavour, befitting the historic company but allowing you to enjoy them without the income of a former royal.

The first is an excellent midweek choice. The 2023 Il Bruciato, produced in Bolgheri, is definitely in the Super Tuscan style but it doesn’t carry the price tag that follows. It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah, intense and strong (14 per cent ABV!), and perfect to go with a home-cooked steak and chips. It’ll set you back about £30.

At the other end of the spectrum, away from the Super Tuscan style and around £60, is the 2020 Pian delle Vigne Brunello di Montalcino. Not a blend but entirely Sangiovese, it’s from Montalcino in the south of Tuscany. This is a superb treat, and an excellent, smooth wine.

The best of their offering is found somewhere in the middle. Another full Sangiovese hit is a perfect Chianti Classico. The 2021 Badia a Passignano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione is one of Antinori’s great wines, roughly £45 a bottle and the most promising of the lot. As with all the above it’s more red fruit driven, but where it distinguishes itself is in its freshness, smoothness and sheer downability.

As I write, I can hear the waves lapping against the gondolas on Venice’s Grand Canal down below. It is the night before the city’s marathon, which I shall be running. The advice of all seasoned marathon runners is that you should never change your habits before a race. And so I find myself looking for something white rather than red, naturally, to ensure I am fresh for the morning’s endeavours. Enter the Cervaro della Sala. It’s from Umbria but the nearest thing Italy has to a white Burgundy – a classic oaky, buttery, full-bodied Chardonnay. As I drag myself towards St Mark’s Square tomorrow, I’ll cast a thought towards the Marchesi Antinori and all they have achieved. After 600 years of outstanding wine-making, they have deservedly earned the loyalty of many a discerning drinker. As they recover from their heist, they could no doubt do with some more members of their fan club.