Aubert de Villaine initially thought it was a joke in bad taste. Co-manager of Romanée-Conti since 1974, one of the most prestigious wine estates in the world, this 69-year-old man discovers, at the beginning of January 2010, with astonishment, the contents of the envelope which had been sent by La Poste to the headquarters of the domain. The entrance to this sober monastic building is indicated only by tiny letters on the intercom of an anonymous gate, opposite the church of Vosne-Romanée, in Côte d’Or, and at the intersection of the Lost Time Street.
On a sheet of paper, slipped into the envelope, is the detailed plan of the estate: each vine stock is indicated there. It is accompanied by a letter, signed by a certain “Martin”, which threatens the managers to attack their precious vines. A few days later, the crow sends them a new missive containing his instructions: he claims no less than a million euros. In case of refusal, he will poison all the vines of the plot. This time it’s serious. As a warning, the author reports having already attacked two feet. After verification, they have been drilled. Liquid, probably weedkiller, was then injected inside.
A trap set by the PJ
Aubert de Villaine can no longer ignore the seriousness of the blackmail that is being done to him. Is he dealing with an organized gang? And even if this famous Martin were only a joker, the reputation of the famous vintage could be affected. What if word spread that the vines, which produce the grapes from which some of the most expensive bottles of wine in the world are made, were poisoned? The image of the Burgundy jewel could take a hit, and the economic fallout would be catastrophic. Each year, 6,000 bottles of divine nectar are produced on this plot of less than two hectares. They are then sold all over the world, sometimes several thousand euros.
Decision is therefore taken not to give in to the blackmail of the crow who left a postal address to communicate with him. Aubert de Villaine prefers to alert the authorities. “This case was taken seriously insofar as this threat was very precise and very well argued. In this regard, I remember having personally contacted the regional directorate of the judicial police to deal with this case, ”recalls Eric Lallement, who at the time was the public prosecutor of Dijon.
At the same time, to save time, he replies to the blackmailer that the authorization of the General Assembly of the estate is necessary to raise the required million. For a few weeks, the investigations stalled. Finally, the investigators decided, in February 2010, to set up a trap consisting of giving the blackmailer a bag containing fake banknotes and a GPS beacon to follow him.
A plan thought out in detention
In the absence of Aubert de Villaine, on a business trip to the United States, it was his right-hand man, Jean-Charles Cuvelier, who volunteered to deposit the ransom in a cemetery in Chambolle-Musigny, near Vosne-Romanée. A few minutes later, under the dumbfounded eyes of a dozen policemen stashed in the street, a silhouette appears and seizes the bag filled with dummy tickets. “He was arrested 200 meters from the cemetery, on the way to the station,” says American journalist Maximillian Potter in an article published in April 2011 in the magazine Vanity Fair. During his police custody, the investigators quickly realize that they are not facing a criminal genius. Jacques Soltys is in his fifties, including a good ten spent behind bars.
Originally from Marne, this son of winegrowers grew up near Epernay. As a teenager, his parents sent him to study at the wine school in Beaune. Nestled in the heart of the vineyards, the city is an essential stopover on the Burgundy Grands Crus route. But at school, the young Jacques stands out for his attitude and is quickly expelled from the establishment. Gradually, he turns to delinquency and commits a series of armed robberies. One of them goes wrong. Exchanges of gunfire with the police. A bullet hit him in the chest. He escapes but receives 20 years in prison. It was in detention that one of his fellow prisoners suggested to him the idea of blackmailing the managers of prestigious wine estates, necessarily rich people paying attention to their reputation.
suicide in jail
On his release from prison, he decided to target the best known: the Romanée-Conti and Georges de Vogüé estates, in Chambolle Musigny. To one, he claims a million euros, to the other 300,000 euros. Jacques Soltys had asked his son, Cédric, to help him in exchange for 300,000 euros. The father took care of drilling small holes in the vines of the Romanée-Conti estate, inside which he slipped an electric wire. He then filled the hole with putty. The son had done the same in Chambolle-Musigny, 3 km further south. In all, the duo had time to tackle about 1,500 feet before getting caught.
Indicted, Jacques Soltys is placed in pre-trial detention at the Dijon remand center. A new passage in prison that he seems not to have supported. One Friday in July 2010, he took advantage of the absence of his fellow prisoner to hang himself. His son was placed under judicial supervision pending his trial. But the day of the hearing, Cédric Soltys is absent and is not represented by a lawyer. The public prosecutor, Eric Lallement, had requested a year in prison against him, as noted by the journalist from Good public present in the room.
“I have never experienced, during my career, blackmail of this nature. The preparatory work undertaken several years before committing the facts, the painstaking identification carried out during the previous months and the threat in support of blackmail marked my mind”, confides to us the magistrate, who has now become Attorney General at the Court of call from Colmar, which still remembers this “out of the ordinary” affair.
The case inspires Hollywood
At the time, Eric Lallement had, in his indictment, recalled that Cédric Soltys “knew the intentions [de son] father for at least 10 years. “He had even carried out tests in Champagne, and had gone to Bordeaux, probably in order to reiterate the facts in the region”, reported in his article the legal columnist of the regional newspaper. Finally, the court went further than the prosecutor by sentencing the young man to two years in prison and issuing an arrest warrant. Once arrested, he had to pay the sum of one euro to each winegrower in damages.
The story, for Jacques Soltys, unfortunate bandit, not very talented crook, ended badly. But on the Romanée-Conti side, it ended like in an episode of Asterix, Burgundy version. “To thank the investigators, when de Villaine returned from his trip to America, he invited them to the Domaine and uncorked a few bottles of Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru 2006 – as well as a bottle of Romanée-Conti 1961 – to wear a toast to their work,” writes Maximillian Potter in Vanity Fair. His article was so successful on the other side of the Atlantic that it was published in a book. A series project with Noah Wyle – Doctor Carter in Emergency – and Judith Light – Angela Bower in Madame is served – would even be in preparation. Far from the Hollywood tumult, Aubert de Villaine handed over the management of the Burgundy wine temple last February, at the age of 82.