Tony Hetherington on Fine Wine Vintnors (sic)

Tony Hetherington exposed Fine Wine Vintnors in his column in the Mail on Sunday yesterday. See here.

Tony kindly mentioned investdrinks.org and I have received a number of enquiries from concerned investors. I will reply to all of these queries but it will take a little time. Please be patient.

In the meantime buy only from established companies and certainly never from a company that uses pushy cold calls.

Fine Wine Vintners Ltd: first annual return overdue

'As one of the UK’s leading fine wine traders we are ideally positioned to assist clients to identify and acquire wines with the greatest potential to appreciate. We combine financial discipline, market insight and wine knowledge to optimise returns.'

Quote above from Fine Wine Vintners website.

'Optimise returns'? Probably a little too early to judge as the company was founded just over a year ago on 4th June 2009 but apparently unable to file its annual company return on time as require by UK company law. Some of the 'discipline' mentioned above required I'd suggest.

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'There are currently opportunities for ambitious, entrepreneurial team spirited individuals, who have the zest to succeed in a high-pressure environment.'

From the careers section of the Fine Wine Vintners website.

Fine Wine Vintners Ltd – an update

Regarding my previous post on Global Fine Wine Ltd and the unauthorised use of material from the site of Bordeaux Index Ltd by GFW and Fine Wine Vintners Ltd, I am glad to see that FWV's site is down for maintenance:

'This site is currently down for maintenance.

Please contact us should you need any further information:

Fine Wine Vintners,

1 Berkeley Street,'

I assume this action is a result of the strong complaint from Bordeaux Index Ltd and trust that, if and when, the site is back up it will accurately portray Fine Wine Vintners Ltd as a recently formed company.

In contrast the site of Global Fine Wine Ltd regrettably is unchanged. 

22.3.2010: The Global Fine Wine Ltd site is also down for 'maintenance'.

Previous posts here and here.

Fine Wine Vintners Ltd – another meteoric rise

I'm very impressed by how quickly a number of new companies have been able to establish themselves as movers and shakers in the fine wine sector. Take, for example, Fine Wine Vintners Ltd. From their website (http://www.finewinevintners.co.uk): 

'As one of the UK’s leading fine wine traders we are ideally positioned to assist clients to identify and acquire wines with the greatest potential to appreciate. We combine financial discipline, market insight and wine knowledge to optimise returns.'

'Access to Rare Stock

We have established a network of negociants, merchants and traders throughout UK and Europe. These relationships give us the opportunity to secure and dispose of stock in as cost-efficient manner as possible. Quality Control The unfortunate reality is that the wine industry, like so many other luxury goods, is subject to counterfeit and the supply of inferior stock. To combat this we insist all our suppliers provide us with provenance and verification of all stock. All of our stock is subject to this process. Almost all the wines we trade are OWC (Original Wooden Cases).'

'Re-Sale
Fine Wine Vintners has the network of contacts throughout the UK and Europe to arrange the re-sale of your wines at a moments notice. Ordinarily, we advise our clients when to take profits or when we believe optimal yields have been achieved. Naturally, care and attention is taken in order to ensure that best prices are achieved. Structuring your Investment. How your portfolio is structured depends greatly on the size of your traditional investment portfolio and your net worth. Initial investment and the length of term of the hold are very important as it will determine what we can recommend to you. Fine Wine Vintners generally advises new clients to dip their toe in the market with anything from £4,000 to £25,000 for individual portfolio and £50,000 to £250,000 for an independent fund or collective investment portfolio.' 

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Company history

Fine Wine Vintners Ltd was incorporated on 4th June 2009 as Fine Wine Investments Ltd. The company's name changed on 12th October 2009 to Fine Wine Vintnors Ltd and then changed (when someone realised that 'Vintnors' was a mispelling to Fine Wine Vinters on 16th November 2009. Again a mispelling but corrected on 24th November 2009, so company is currently registered as Fine Wine Vintners Ltd. The sole director is Bradleigh Anthony Caley, who has a Bromley post code. Their website mentions top Bordeaux wines as well as some top-end Australian wines.

My advice

Despite the claim to be 'one of the UK's leading wine traders' Fine Wine Vintners Ltd have no track record, so I would not buy wine from them, especially if they offer Bordeaux en primeur. Buying Australian wine for investment is a lot more speculative than top Bordeaux and certainly not a choice for a wine investment beginner.

If wine investment was regulated in the UK, then claims like 'as one of the UK’s leading fine wine traders' would have to have a more solid basis.