A man empties his bucket full of grapes at a vineyard in Kakheti, northern part of Georgia, Oct. 2, 2020. With a long history of wine making, Georgia has ushered in this year's grape harvest season recently. (Photo by Kulumbegashvili Tamuna/Xinhua)

Thieves escaped with half a ton of grapes they had stripped directly from the vine at a winery in Canada's Quebec province, the owner said Tuesday. Police said they have no specific leads but suspect hobbyists rather than professionals.

"Six months of work went into preparing the vines, watering and maintaining them, pulling out weeds, and pruning them. So it's really frustrating when you come to harvest the grapes and they've vanished," winery owner Michel Robert told AFP.

The thieves removed nets covering the vines, and picked them clean of Vidal blanc grapes - enough to make about 300 bottles of white wine worth Can$5,000 ($3,800).

Quebec provincial police spokeswoman Valerie Beauchamp said the thieves used an all-terrain vehicle with a trailer, which left behind tracks, and black garbage bags to haul away the grapes after stripping an entire row of vines, breaking several branches. A few bags were left at the scene.

AFP