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.
Also see warning here on This is Money by Tony Hetherington.
Also see warning here on This is Money by Tony Hetherington.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThanks anon. Where are these details from as I haven't found Wine Asset Ltd on Companies House.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteJim
ReplyDeleteRe the post above made by “Anonymous - Feb 22, 2012 06:27 AM”
I am at a loss to ascertain what the post has to do with this subject. Even the poster fails to give any explanation. What does it have to do with the bogus company that calls itself Wine Asset Ltd? In the absence of any explanation, it means absolutely nothing.
Anon. I agree. I asked for an explanation for the anonymous post of 18th. None has been forthcoming and as it stands I can see no connection, so unless I receive an explanation by midnight tonight, I will remove the post.
ReplyDeleteI have now removed both anon comments as I'm not clear what connection, if any, they have with Wine Asset Ltd.
ReplyDeleteHi All,
ReplyDeleteI am very new to wine investment and i am seeing a lot of bad things on the net and on here.
I have requested some info about the market from a few companies and the have got back to me i dont know what to do ? one of the wine companies are City Wine Traders do you have any info on them also cult wines ?
thank you
Anon. You will find some comments on the section on this blog entitled companies from whom I would not buy wine.
ReplyDeletethank you for the reply jim do you have any more info on city wine traders you seem to have a lot for cult wines ?
ReplyDeletethere is good and bad on everything dependent on your point of view which is always tempered by your own perspective and experience
ReplyDeleteAnon City Wine Traders Ltd was founded on 21st April 2010. Its website says it was founded by two friends who had a keen interest in wine. The names of the two friends or the directors appear not to be mentioned on the site. Nor, as far as I can see, where the wines are stored.
ReplyDeleteThe site claims that wine investment is tax-free. Although this is true for many wines, it is not necessarily true for those wines – First Growths etc. – which tend to have the greatest long-term investment potential as in good to great vintages it is reasonable to expect that they will still be drinkable 50 years on. So not a 'wasting asset' and may liable for capital gains tax.
Furthermore there is no mention of inheritance tax, which is payable on the current value of the wine with no notion of a wasting asset.
I would want to know more about City Wine Traders Ltd before I considered buying wine as an investment from them
Dear Jim
ReplyDeletedo you anything about Embassy wines
http://embassywineuk.com/
they say they only charge 8% of the profit when selling which seems too good to be true, they never mention prices and I believe they started the same time as vin borderlaise, they do speak like eats end barrow boys so I was wondering do you think they are connected to Bordeaux UK
Anon. Thanks for this – a new company to me. Nothing specific on website – no directors. Contact details (17 Ensign House, Admirals Way, Canary Wharf, London, E14 9XQ) show up as:
ReplyDeleteContact Us - virtual office,london office space,telephone answering ...
www.flexyoffice.com/page15.php17 Ensign House, Admirals Way, Canary Wharf, London, E14 9XQ. Telephone: 020 7863 7863. Fax: 020 7863 7510. Email: info@flexyoffice.com. By Docklands ...
Not sure what the Château de Chenonceau (Loire) on the home page photo sequence has to do with wine investment...
Embassy Fine Wines UK Ltd was founded on 12th April 2011.
I'd want to know considerably more about them before considering buying from them.
Details on Embassy wine
ReplyDeleteThere website went live in September 27, 2011
Type Date Description Order
AA 23/01/2012 30/09/11 TOTAL EXEMPTION SMALL
AA01 07/12/2011 PREVSHO FROM 30/06/2012 TO 30/09/2011
CH01 26/08/2011 DIRECTOR'S CHANGE OF PARTICULARS / MR JON PIPER / 17/08/2011
AD01 26/08/2011 REGISTERED OFFICE CHANGED ON 26/08/2011 FROM
4 FOXGLOVE GARDENS
WANSTEAD
LONDON
E11 2EG
ENGLAND
NEWINC 28/06/2011 CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION
GENERAL COMPANY DETAILS & STATEMENTS OF;
OFFICERS, CAPITAL & SHAREHOLDINGS, GUARANTEE, COMPLIANCE
MEMORANDUM OF ASSOCIATION
LATEST SOC 28/06/2011 28/06/11 STATEMENT OF CAPITAL;GBP 1
MODEL ARTICLES 28/06/2011 MODEL ARTICLES ADOPTED: PRIVATE LIMITED BY SHARES
Embassy wine is basically a brand new company!
ReplyDeleteI've seen so much poor English and bad grammar on wine investment sites that my eyes hurt, but Embassy Wines have taken things to a whole new level. Do people really send their hard earned cash to companies who represent themselves so carelessly?? Don't alarm bells start ringing after even a perfunctory glance at their promotional guff??
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous
ReplyDeleteplease give examples of promotional guff of Embassy Wines so we can all have a laugh??
anyone know anything about winnington fine wines? companies house has them incorporated on 23/01/2012, yet when i spoke with a chap their, he informed me their clients had made some spurious double-digit returns last year... was this last year when they were another company? or just a fresh air figure? their office is registered at 40 Marsh Wall, Docklands, E14 9TP, with their material and website citing 26 York Street, W1U 6PZ... am i missing something or is it bizarre that a new company can afford two prime location offices??
ReplyDeletehttp://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/ccafb7ff35d9a10733dd57967df87a91/compdetails
There are a limited number of meeting rooms available at 26 York Street, London W1: http://www.w1office.com/meetings/york-street
ReplyDeletewine asset just rang me, offering one case of petrus 1992 for £25,000, advertising it as 'one of the greatest wines ever', rated at 96+ points by parker - apparently! also one mouton 1986 (duty paid) for £16,000, and advertising that one mouton vintage had gone up in price over 30% in the last month but he couldn't remember whether it was the 2008 or 2009..! he also told me that they hve a storage account at vinotheque, so jim may want to follow up on that. by the way steve hemmings was his name (or alias). when I mentioned i'd seen their company on a blog (this one of course), his elocution deteriorated drastically and he asked me 'are you a reporter?' sounds like another ill-educated bandit mob to me
ReplyDeleteHaving been persistently badgered, harrassed and pestered, after an initial cold-call, I have had a brief look at the Embassy Wine UK website.
ReplyDeleteShould their manner of introduction not have been enough to discourage me from doing business with them, their website definitely put the final nail in the coffin. This rather shoddy attempt is filled with glaring grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. I laughed aloud when I encountered their Wine List page (http://embassywineuk.com/wine_list.html) and the misrepresentation of Chateau Margaux using an image of another wine (albeit from the same appellation). Chateau Marquis de Terme will be pleased with their new found status as a First Growth!!