Wine Asset Ltd: I'd rather have the bubonic plague!

Personal opinion, of course, but I would avoid Wine Asset Ltd (The Wine Investments Specialists) like the plague. If they really had the expertise they claim and intended to offer clients a good deal they would not be selling a case of 1994 Château Barreau for 2,200€ or the 1994 Château de Fonbel for £2500 a case. 

Neither of these wines has any investment potential, especially at these prices and since 1994 is a mediocre vintage. Fonbel is a a Grand Cru Saint-Emilion and is owned by Alain Vauthier of Château Ausone. There is no current price for the 1994 – the last price listed on wine-searcher was in June 2009 when it was offered by Which Wine Web in Paris at £8.02 a bottle (£96.24 a case) without tax. Buying through Which Wine Web would have given a unfortunately gulled client of Wine Asset Ltd nearly 26 cases to just one that they actually bought from Wine Asset Ltd.

Wine Asset Ltd's address in the UK is Rivington House, 82 Great Eastern Street, London EC2A 3JF – a well known accommodation address. Wine Asset's FRench address is Rue Robert Caumont, 33049 Bordeaux – another well known accommodation address and where this gets really interesting as it is the same address as used by the pernicious Vintage Wines Ltd. Vintage Wines Ltd had a similar wine investment approach – selling doubtless perfectly decent Bordeaux wines at more than ten times their value.

Wine Asset Ltd claim to store wines for their customers at London City Bond. As of this afternoon Wine Asset Ltd appear to have no account at London City Bond. They also like to appear to be members of Liv-ex – a completely bogus claim as Jack Hibberd, Liv-ex's Head of Data & Research explains:"Despite appearances, they are not members of Liv-ex and they do not have permission to use our logo. In fact, the  Liv-ex trade ticker they are using is a fake – it is not a feed from us. The tell tale sign is the misspelling of “Chapella” Ausone. I have sent them a notice of copyright infringement."

Hibberd or anyone else wanting to contact Wine Asset Ltd's 'head office', they will have a long way to go – the company is registered in Belize. Like I said avoid Wine Asset Ltd like the plague!  

Please note that Wine Asset Ltd has no connection whatever with Wine Asset Managers LLP.

  

       

Beaumont Vintners Ltd: Police advice – contact action fraud

Police advice is that anyone who has made an investment with Beaumont Vintners Ltd should make a referral to Action Fraud, who have been notified by the Police to expect more reports to follow. As they are reported the national fraud desk will start to assess the reports and make a decision about who it should be referred to for investigation if that is the decision they reach. If there is to be an investigation, Action Fraud will be able to assess which police force/agency will be best placed to investigate. So it is very important to file a report on Beaumont Vintners Ltd with Action Fraud rather than a police force.     

Concerned about your wine investment? Offer of assistance by Grant Thornton UK

I'm happy to post the following message from Grant Thornton's UK LLP's FInD team to concerned wine investors:  

'If you have purchased wine and have concerns about the company that you purchased it from, Grant Thornton UK LLP's FInD team would be happy to assist you by undertaking preliminary enquiries into the company. They will consider whether the company is still trading and what steps are available to you to recover your wine or the money that you spent.

Please contact James Kehoe at Grant Thornton UK LLP on 0207 865 2165 or alternatively email him at james.kehoe@uk.gt.com. There will be no charge for this service.

FInD specialises in tracing and recovering assets. It is a national team of 95 professionals with a multi-jurisdictional reach through Grant Thornton International, which has member firms in all offshore financial centres. FInD has recovered assets from many jurisdictions for victims of investment scams, including off plan property developments, mortgage fraud and boiler room fraud, in the UK, Spain, Caribbean, USA, the Middle East and other overseas jurisdictions.

They have a proven track record and are currently running over 1,300 cases. They regularly work with investigating and prosecuting authorities including various police forces, the Serious Fraud Office and the Crown Prosecution Service.

For further information regarding Grant Thornton's insolvency investigation services please visit

http://www.grant-thornton.co.uk/intermediaries/fraud_insolvency_division.aspx