Finbow Wines Limited/Nouveau World Wines Limited: administrators appointed

Trevor Binyon of R S Tenon has been appointed as liquidator to Nouveau World Wines and Nick Wood of Grant Thornton as liquidator to Finbow Wines Limited.
 

Due to the link between the two companies, Grant Thornton was given the opportunity of acting jointly with R S Tenon, but refused. 

Finbow Wines Limited/Nouveau World Wines Limited: URGENT ACTION REQUIRED: Grant Thornton a candidate to be appointed liquidator

I'm happy to post this notice at the request of Grant Thornton. See also here. 

"Finbow Wines Limited - In Liquidation & Nouveau World Wines Limited - In Liquidation


URGENT ACTION REQUIRED


30 March 2011 - Meeting of creditors to appoint an insolvency practitioner to act as liquidator


The Fraud Insolvency Division (FInD) at Grant Thornton UK LLP have been approached by in excess of £1m in value of investors to act as joint liquidators in the matter of Finbow Wines Limited at a meeting of creditors to be held at The Official Receiver's offices in London at 10.30am on 30 March 2011.  

Nick Wood and David Ingram are also happy to accept nominations to be appointed as joint liquidators of Nouveau World Wines Limited, a company connected to Finbow Wines Limited in order, at the Official Receiver's request, to allow the two liquidations to be dealt with by the same firm. We have successfully dealt with a number of wine investment companies making good recoveries for investors. There is likely to have been movement of monies and stock between the 2 companies and it would be more cost efficient for creditors to have both companies dealt with by the same liquidator.

Nominations must be lodged with the Official Receiver by noon today, however late nominations will still be lodged with the Official Receiver and may still be accepted.

Should you be an investor in Nouveau World Wines Limited and wish to discuss this process and the forms required or wish to nominate Nick Wood and David Ingram of Grant Thornton UK LLP please contact Samantha Locke at Grant Thornton UK LLP as a matter of urgency on 0207 728 2651 or alternatively email her at samantha.j.locke@uk.gt.com.

There will be no charge to investors in making this nomination and a report of the outcome of the meeting will be provided at no cost.

For further information regarding Grant Thornton's insolvency investigation services please visit http://www.grant-thornton.co.uk/intermediaries/fraud_insolvency_division.aspx FInD's fees can be conditional upon recoveries made and therefore creditors may not need to fund recoveries and spend further money thereby throwing 'good' money after 'bad'.

FInD specialise in tracing and recovering assets and are a national team together with an international reach with a presence in all offshore financial centres. They have recovered assets from many jurisdictions and are currently successfully recovering monies for victims of various 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 sector expertise and are currently running over 600 asset recovery cases. They regularly work with various police fraud squads, the Serious Fraud Office and the Crown Prosecution Service."

Primeurs 2010 - when to publish? asks Jancis Robinson MW

Jancis Robinson MW@a conference in Porto December 2010

Good and thought-provoking article by Jancis Robinson MW asking how journalists covering the 2010 Bordeaux en primeur tastings can avoid becoming part of Bordeaux's sales machine:

23 Mar 2011 by Jancis Robinson

'It looks, against all odds, as though Bordeaux may just have another sought-after vintage on its hands with the 2010s (see Vintage reputations - the struggle for truth). Asian markets, with the tragic exception of Japan, seem to be on fire for classic, investment-grade wines. The Americans look ready to come back into the picture for Bordeaux primeurs, having sat out 2009s to a great extent. Many economies are in a much healthier state than the British one, and even in the UK there is no shortage of potential investors with, for example, bonuses burning to find an amusing home. No wonder the UK's fine-wine traders are in such fine fettle. This year they don't even seem to be bothering to demand reasonable pricing from the top Bordeaux proprietors - who are currently rolling in cash, as any visitor to the Médoc and its myriad building projects can attest.

I have already tasted some 2010s and can see that there will be considerable interest in them. I am going back to Bordeaux twice, once at the end of this month and once at the beginning of next, to taste this embryonic vintage as thoroughly as is possible as usual, but I really do wonder what to do with my tasting notes.'

Read the rest here: http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/a201103204.html

**

Probably the only way for journalists to escape Bordeaux sales machine is not to go until the wines are closer to being ready and after the prices have been released. By which time, of course, most of the wines will have been sold and a critics comments may not be very relevant.

See also the open letter from Michel Bettane, the prominent French wine critic, to Sylvie Cazes of the UGCB.