Atherton police are looking for 177 bottles of wine, valued at $531,000, that were reported stolen from the basement of a home on Fair Oaks Lane in Atherton on Thursday, Jan. 4.

Each bottle has a street value of about $3,000, according to Detective Kristin Nichols of the Atherton Police Department. The investigation into the half-million dollar heist is "still in the beginning stages," she said.

Anyone who has an encounter with someone trying to unload wine known to be of high value but for a much lower than expected price should call Atherton police at 650-688-6500, Nichols said.

Nichols said she did not know whether the wine was white or red, nor did she provide any details on how the wine might have been removed from the basement.

— David Boyce

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