Vintage Wine Investors offer '50% profit on 2010 Lafite' – but who are they?

Château Lafite

Vintage Wine Investors are generously offering to make investors a 50% profit in just three months on a purchase of a case of six bottles of 2010 Lafite. Buy a case now for £3000 and Vintage Wine Investors will give you 'a legally binding Wine Sale and Buy Back agreement that confirms that £4500 will be transferred to your account on 21st December 2012 for each case of 6 bottles that you purchase'. A maximium of 10 cases per client.

In response to the reasonable question 'How can we make such an offer' Vintage Wine Investors claim that 'This is from a very large buy from a liquidation sale. We are putting in half the money ourselves and allowing new clients to test the market and see the short term returns that are currently available.'

Sounds too good to be true? Before reaching for your cheque book consider the following:

a) The 2010 Lafite has yet to be bottled and shipped.

b) The lowest price for a case of six bottles of Lafite 2010 as shown on wine-searcher is £4150 from En Primeur Ltd. En Primeur Ltd were offering this for £4400 on 15th June 2012. This would suggest that the market is less buoyant than Vintage Wine Investors believe. 

c) There is no indication on their website of the provenance of this company – no names of directors etc.. The company appears not to be a registered UK company – no records at Companies House. 

d) Their address at 17 Ensign House, Admirals Way Canary Wharf London E14 9XQ appears to be a virtual office run by Flexy Office (UK) Ltd. Vintage Wine Investors could actually be based anywhere – Bromley or the Costa del Sol, for instance. 
e) They also give 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0SR – another serviced office – as a further address. 

f) If Vintage Wine Investors 'legally binding Wine Sale and Buy Back agreement' proves to be worthless, it will be very difficult to trace VWI. 

g) Their website is registered anonymously in Ontario, Canada.

       

 

I'll definitely pass on this offer and other offers that Vintage Wine Investors have recently made. Instead I'll consider maximising my savings in flying pigs – certainly a wasting asset! 

22.9.12: I'll also pass on the similar offer made on 2010 Château Margaux – again a 50% profit between now and 23rd January. 

Bordeaux Wine Trading Company highlights dangers of buying en primeur

One very obvious lesson from the convictions in the Bordeaux Wine Trading Company Ltd and International Wine Commodities Ltd is how ideally suited en primeur is to fraud. It is indeed a gold plated vehicle for fraud. Had Craven and Hayble been really clever rather than merely greedy, particularly Craven, they could well have covered their tracks and disappeared with a substantial portion of the £1.2 million looted from investors.

Curiously only this week I received a query from a potential investor (TG) who had been contacted by Worldwide Wine Investments Ltd (WWI), who are based at Luminous House, 300 South Row Milton Keynes, MK9 2FR. Although set up in March 2007 the company traded as Clearpoint Trading until 15th October 2010, when it changed its name to Worldwide Wine Investments Ltd. The registered office was also changed from 145-157 St John Street, London EC1V 4PY.

From the company's website it is clear that they have made rapid progress since October 2010 – 'we are a unique high-end wine investment brokerage specialising solely on the crême de la crême Bordeaux wines making you the best returns possible'.

TG explained that Worldwide Wine Investments had offered him: 'Lafite Rothschild 2010 @ £11,500 per case (9ltrs), Mouton Rothschild 2010 @ £7,400 per case (9ltrs). Prices include all taxes and import to the warehouse.

They take 5% of profit on resale.

Sounds very reasonable?'

My response to TG:

'If you look at wine-searcher you will see that Worldwide Wine Investments price for the 2010 Lafite-Rothschild (WS: £11675) is lower than any price shown. Similarly with the Mouton 2010 (WS: £7639).

Although it may look reasonable and a good deal, you might wonder how a newly set up company is able to offer lower prices than its competitors given that it is highly unlikely that it will have been able to buy direct from Bordeaux. Instead will have had to buy from its UK competitors.'

TG told me that the sales staff had told him that they had between 160 and 210 cases of 2010 Lafite. I assume this must have been said in jest as even a major player like Berry Bros & Rudd are thought have had only around some 200 cases of 2010 Lafite to offer to their customers this year en primeur. The amount of 2010 en primeur wine the First Growths have released this campaign is significantly less – probably the smallest ever.

The WWI claims 'Bordeaux Vintage Wine, The 100% Tax Free Tangible Asset'. Not sure that HMRC would agree!

•

I have emailed Geraint Jones, a director of Worldwide Wine Investments Ltd, inviting him to comment.

CBV Vintners: 2010 Lafite offered before release

The ability to look into the future is a most useful skill as this email (15th June 2010) from Stephen Miles of CB Vintners shows. 11 days after Stephen Miles sent his email (26th June 2011) Lafite has yet to release its price for the 2010. It is also not know how much will be released.

If I was the recipient of this email I would decline Mr Miles' kind proposal despite his apparent ability to purchase 'the best and most sought after stock'.  

From: Stephen Miles
To: ***
Sent: Wed, June 15, 2011 5:13:55 PM
Subject: Your request for further information on fine wine investment

Dear •••

I hope that you are keeping well.

You recently requested some information on wine investment opportunities. Please see below our latest offer.

The 2010 Bordeaux vintage is in the process of being released at the en-primeur stage. The 2010 vintage is set to be one of the top 5 vintages of all time. The demands from all over the world and especially China are far exceeding the supply. In the last couple of years we have seen astronomical returns in a short period of time. In fact as an example from the spring of 2009 to date Lafite Rothschild 2008 has increased by 700%...I know amazing. The Chinese cannot get enough of this wine. As I have been operating within the market place now for 15 years, I am in a favourable position when it comes to purchasing the best and most sought after stock.

At this stage, I would like to offer you the opportunity to purchase up to 3 cases of the superb 2010 Lafite Rothschild. The price of each case will be £12,500. I believe that this wine – the most sought after wine in the world has the capability to double in value over the next year to 18 months if we observe the performance of previous vintage

I would recommend that you take advantage of the proposal that I am offering you.

I look forward to any questions that you may have. Please email me.

Kind Regards

Stephen