The enquiry
I wonder if you have any information about Templar Vintners?
They contacted me in November about buying Bordeaux Wines. I have a portfolio of wine that is held under an umbrella by the Bordeaux Wine Company. I am at a stage where I wish to offload some of my wine and was looking for a competitive price. Templar contacted me around that time - not sure how, in retrospect. Web site up and running, other references online but no figures at Companies House - I haven’t visited their premises yet.
I have already bought a case of Ausone 2008 for £7,700 - and have a Certificate from them but realise this is no guarantee that the wine exists.
My response
The registered office of Templar Vintners Ltd is at Hamilton House, 1 Temple Avenue, London EC4Y 0HA.
Their website (http://www.templarvintners.com/) claims that:
'Templar Vintners is one of the leading fine and rare wine merchants. We hold some of the greatest and rarest vintage wines; many of the wines we hold are increasingly unavailable elsewhere. We also frequently offer more recent vintages, at very competitive prices, which gives customers excellent opportunities for capital growth. Our clients benefit directly from our immense buying power, amassed through years of experience, and strong allegiances with a wide-variety of industry experts. Over 70 per cent of Templar Vintners’ customers are high net-worth individuals and seasoned investors. The remaining 30 per cent are a collection of British and international merchants , wine brokers and institutional investors.'
If this claim 'to be one the leading fine and rare wine merchants' is correct then this is a truly remarkable and probably unprecedented achievement. The company was incorporated on 8th August 2008 when it was called 888 Finance Ltd. On 30th June 2009 the registered office was changed from www.buy-this-company-name.com, Suite B, 29 Harley Street, London W1G 9QR to the current address at Hamilton House. On the same day Andrew Griffiths was appointed as director and James Allie as company secretary and on 3rd July 2009 the company name was changed from 888 Finance Ltd to Templar Vintners Ltd. The company's first accounts are due to be filed on 8th May 2010. Thus Templar Vintners Ltd did not start trading until early July last year.
Because of the nature of en primeur (see here) it is impossible at this stage to verify whether Templar Vintners has indeed placed on order for and paid for your case of 2008 Ausone. To be certain you would need to see their order and payment records and ideally details of the transactions all the way down the chain to the négociants in Bordeaux. I suspect that most companies would decline to release these records on the grounds of commercial confidentiality. You will not be sure whether the case of 2008 Ausone for which you have paid exists and is yours until it arrives in this country either at the end of this year or in the early part of 2011.
This is why it is always crucial to carry out as much due diligence on a company before buying en primeur from them and to buy only from established companies who have a solid track record.
The company's website is registered with Philip Lane Ltd, 2nd Floor 145-157 St John St, London EC1V 4PY.
It is interesting to download the selection of articles on wine investment from the Templar site and do a compare and contrast.
First up is an article from the Independent on Sunday (22nd June 2008) by Kate Hughes and Julian Knight. Here is the second paragraph (page 2) from the Templar's version:
For a private investor, there are three main avenues into the wine world. A specialist fund pools investors' money to buy wine to trade, but that doesn't mean you will get to drink your returns, just as investing a stake in a racehorse won't get you into the saddle. Wine Asset Managers (Templar Vintners), for example, offers the Fine Wine Fund, requiring a minimum
This is original version of the article as it appeared in The Independent on Sunday:
'For a private investor, there are three main avenues into the wine world. A specialist fund pools investors' money to buy wine to trade, but that doesn't mean you will get to drink your returns, just as investing a stake in a racehorse won't get you into the saddle. Wine Asset Managers (wamllp.com), for example, offers the Fine Wine Fund, requiring a minimum investment of £50,000. The annual management fee is 2 per cent, plus a further 15 per cent of the fund's annual performance growth.
Wine Asset Managers (WAM) was founded in December 2005 by William Beck and Miles Davis. It is authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) – 448941 - Wine Asset Managers LLP, authorised 25.5.2006 They run two wine funds The Fine Wine Fund and The Fine Wine Investment Fund. Wine expert Steven Spurrier is the advisor to the fund.
Templar Vintners Ltd are not authorised by the FSA. Any company in the UK running a wine fund as opposed to offering cases of wine for investment is very likely to be judged to be running a collective investment scheme as will need to be authorised by a financial services authority. In most cases in the UK this will be the FSA.
When I contacted Miles Davis about Templar Vintners he was very surprised. "I have never heard of Templar Vintners," he said. His business partner, Will Beck, was equally surprised. 'We have never heard of Templar Vintners and it certainly appears that something underhand is going on. In the first article they have clearly tried to associate themselves with us, but it looks very amateurish. They appear to have a makeshift website.'
'The second article is the one we wrote in the FT (with my name next to it) for the wine investment supplement in June 2008, and the ad at the bottom was placed by Vinum Fine Wine Fund (we have a hard copy here in our office). They have clearly replaced Vinum’s name with their own.'
As William Beck points out, this is exactly what Templar Vintners Ltd appear to have done as shown here:
The original ad in the FT (20th May 2008)
The amended/or doctored ad from Templar Vintners Ltd
The full page from Templar Vintners showing the ad in the bottom, left hand corner
Templar Vintners Ltd appear to just have changed the name and the logo leaving in the details about the authorisation by the GFSC (Guernsey Financial Services Commission: 'Class B Collective Investment Scheme under the Protection of Investors (Baillwick of Guernsey) Law 1987, authorised by the GFSC'.
The Vinum Wine Fund is authorised by the GFSC as their records show: 'Vinum Wine Fund
My advice
I would not do business with Templar Vintners Ltd under any circumstances.
I have invited Andrew Griffiths, director of Templar Vintners Ltd, to respond to this post. 25.1.2010: Andrew Griffiths has responded – see his comments below.
I have already bought a case of Ausone 2008 for £7,700 - and have a Certificate from them but realise this is no guarantee that the wine exists.
My response
The registered office of Templar Vintners Ltd is at Hamilton House, 1 Temple Avenue, London EC4Y 0HA.
Their website (http://www.templarvintners.com/) claims that:
'Templar Vintners is one of the leading fine and rare wine merchants. We hold some of the greatest and rarest vintage wines; many of the wines we hold are increasingly unavailable elsewhere. We also frequently offer more recent vintages, at very competitive prices, which gives customers excellent opportunities for capital growth. Our clients benefit directly from our immense buying power, amassed through years of experience, and strong allegiances with a wide-variety of industry experts. Over 70 per cent of Templar Vintners’ customers are high net-worth individuals and seasoned investors. The remaining 30 per cent are a collection of British and international merchants , wine brokers and institutional investors.'
If this claim 'to be one the leading fine and rare wine merchants' is correct then this is a truly remarkable and probably unprecedented achievement. The company was incorporated on 8th August 2008 when it was called 888 Finance Ltd. On 30th June 2009 the registered office was changed from www.buy-this-company-name.com, Suite B, 29 Harley Street, London W1G 9QR to the current address at Hamilton House. On the same day Andrew Griffiths was appointed as director and James Allie as company secretary and on 3rd July 2009 the company name was changed from 888 Finance Ltd to Templar Vintners Ltd. The company's first accounts are due to be filed on 8th May 2010. Thus Templar Vintners Ltd did not start trading until early July last year.
Because of the nature of en primeur (see here) it is impossible at this stage to verify whether Templar Vintners has indeed placed on order for and paid for your case of 2008 Ausone. To be certain you would need to see their order and payment records and ideally details of the transactions all the way down the chain to the négociants in Bordeaux. I suspect that most companies would decline to release these records on the grounds of commercial confidentiality. You will not be sure whether the case of 2008 Ausone for which you have paid exists and is yours until it arrives in this country either at the end of this year or in the early part of 2011.
This is why it is always crucial to carry out as much due diligence on a company before buying en primeur from them and to buy only from established companies who have a solid track record.
The company's website is registered with Philip Lane Ltd, 2nd Floor 145-157 St John St, London EC1V 4PY.
It is interesting to download the selection of articles on wine investment from the Templar site and do a compare and contrast.
First up is an article from the Independent on Sunday (22nd June 2008) by Kate Hughes and Julian Knight. Here is the second paragraph (page 2) from the Templar's version:
For a private investor, there are three main avenues into the wine world. A specialist fund pools investors' money to buy wine to trade, but that doesn't mean you will get to drink your returns, just as investing a stake in a racehorse won't get you into the saddle. Wine Asset Managers (Templar Vintners), for example, offers the Fine Wine Fund, requiring a minimum
This is original version of the article as it appeared in The Independent on Sunday:
'For a private investor, there are three main avenues into the wine world. A specialist fund pools investors' money to buy wine to trade, but that doesn't mean you will get to drink your returns, just as investing a stake in a racehorse won't get you into the saddle. Wine Asset Managers (wamllp.com), for example, offers the Fine Wine Fund, requiring a minimum investment of £50,000. The annual management fee is 2 per cent, plus a further 15 per cent of the fund's annual performance growth.
Wine Asset Managers (WAM) was founded in December 2005 by William Beck and Miles Davis. It is authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) – 448941 - Wine Asset Managers LLP, authorised 25.5.2006 They run two wine funds The Fine Wine Fund and The Fine Wine Investment Fund. Wine expert Steven Spurrier is the advisor to the fund.
Templar Vintners Ltd are not authorised by the FSA. Any company in the UK running a wine fund as opposed to offering cases of wine for investment is very likely to be judged to be running a collective investment scheme as will need to be authorised by a financial services authority. In most cases in the UK this will be the FSA.
When I contacted Miles Davis about Templar Vintners he was very surprised. "I have never heard of Templar Vintners," he said. His business partner, Will Beck, was equally surprised. 'We have never heard of Templar Vintners and it certainly appears that something underhand is going on. In the first article they have clearly tried to associate themselves with us, but it looks very amateurish. They appear to have a makeshift website.'
'The second article is the one we wrote in the FT (with my name next to it) for the wine investment supplement in June 2008, and the ad at the bottom was placed by Vinum Fine Wine Fund (we have a hard copy here in our office). They have clearly replaced Vinum’s name with their own.'
As William Beck points out, this is exactly what Templar Vintners Ltd appear to have done as shown here:
The original ad in the FT (20th May 2008)
The amended/or doctored ad from Templar Vintners Ltd
The full page from Templar Vintners showing the ad in the bottom, left hand cornerTemplar Vintners Ltd appear to just have changed the name and the logo leaving in the details about the authorisation by the GFSC (Guernsey Financial Services Commission: 'Class B Collective Investment Scheme under the Protection of Investors (Baillwick of Guernsey) Law 1987, authorised by the GFSC'.
The Vinum Wine Fund is authorised by the GFSC as their records show: 'Vinum Wine Fund
AB agreed with Templar Vintners to swop his 2003s for 2008s and asked Templar to contact the Bordeaux Wine Company. They declined, so AB talked to the Bordeaux Wine Company direct. They told him that they thought they were a re-incarnation of the Bordeaux Wine Trading Company/International Wine Commodities. I have no evidence to support this claim, although BWC may be in a position to know as some of the people involved in running Bordeaux Wine Trading Company/International Wine Commodities previously worked for BWC. Any connection with these two companies has been denied by Andrew Griffiths: 'We have no knowledge of Bordeaux Wine Trading Company/International Wine Commodities, nor have we had or do we have any association or dealings with them.'
I would not do business with Templar Vintners Ltd under any circumstances.
I have invited Andrew Griffiths, director of Templar Vintners Ltd, to respond to this post. 25.1.2010: Andrew Griffiths has responded – see his comments below.
Thank you for pointing out a few things to myself and my co-director through our staff members. I will like to clarify a few things immediately and halt any consideration that there was any intentional foul play.
ReplyDelete1) We have no knowledge of Bordeaux Wine Trading Company/International Wine Commodities, nor have we had or do we have any association or dealings with them.
2) The following statement is also false, as we were never requested to swap any wines with anyone. I understand we actually sold the client in questions? wines to a third party brokerage; we are the ones who sold the clients wines not Bordeaux Wine Company. "AB agreed with Templar Vintners to wop his 2003s for 2008s and asked Templar to contact the Bordeaux Wine Company"
3) In our time of trading we have had one complainant who has been satisfied.
4) The marketing material had not been approved to go out to any client or potential client thereof, as we were still working on several aspect of our business; This being:
a) Our fine wine fund: This fund is being structured and with all intent and purposes should be launched in the summer of 2010.
b) The material which has been sent as part of the published news paper articles was presented to us as examples of our own newsletter publications and print quality to send to clients on a monthly basis.
c) The newspaper articles were sent as part of other articles we find from various publications and send to clients to abrest of the fine wine (FWM), any new developments, general market information and conditions.
5) The gross negligence of our marketing arm will be looked in to and parties responsible for this will be sued and or discharge accordingly. That is individuals within our own ranks as well as those in the marketing and Design Company at fault.
As directors it is and was up to us to have rechecked all literature instead of leaving such occupation to employees, therefore the blame lies squarely on our shoulders until we can resolve these issues. Lastly we would welcome any complainants to email us or call, in order that their complaint is satisfied.
Andrew Griffiths
Director
Templar Vintners Ltd
Andrew Griffiths
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments.
Whatever the alleged status of the downloadable articles, they should not have appeared on your website. Nor should such doctored articles and adverts be sent to your clients.
You say 'the following statement is false'. I have no reason to doubt AB, who as I understand has for the moment, at least, put the deal on hold.
'Our fine wine fund: This fund is being structured and with all intent and purposes should be launched in the summer of 2010.'
You will need approval from a financial authority. From which financial authority will you be seeking authorisation please?
Do you stand by your claim 'to be one the leading fine and rare wine merchants'? Or is another example of 'gross negligence' by your marketing arm?
Which bonded warehouse/warehouses do you use?
I look forward to hearing from you again.
Following disclosures at the trial at Saint Albans there can be no certainty that this email was actually sent by Andrew Griffiths. It may well have been sent by someone else.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting programme about Templar Vintners LTD, International Wine Commodities and Bordeaux Wine Trading Company on BBC 1 this morning (You've Been Scammed - Check it out on BBC iPlayer).
ReplyDeleteIt would appear they were all owned by the same group of people (although they did use fake names with one of the companies.
Many thanks anon. There were links between the companies, although Paul Craven for example was only involved in the Bordeaux Wine Trading Company.
ReplyDelete