Crime / grapes Grape Bandits Strip Vineyard Award-winning German winegrower ruined By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff Posted Sep 21, 2011 1:38 AM CDT Copied "We are suffering spiritually, not just financially, over this loss," winegrower Stephen Attmann. (Getty Images) An award-winning German winegrower has lost his crop of grapes to a band of brazen thieves just before harvest time. Almost three tons of high-quality red grapes destined to become wine were stolen overnight by bandits who brought their own harvest machine, reports Der Spiegel. Wine experts believe the theft was carried out by a desperate winegrower who lost his own crop to frost or hail, and the culprit will be found when a winemaker not known for quality produces a superb product this year. (More grapes stories.) Report an error