ADT Brokerage: not for me thanks!

Introduction to ADT Brokerage 'a privately-owned 

and operated wine merchant' from their home page

I recently came across ADT Brokerage – sometimes called ADT Brokerage Ltd and decided to do a spot of due diligence on the company. So first a look at the website (http://www.adtbrokerage.com): 

'ADT Brokerge is a privately-owned and operated wine merchant, involved in the buying and selling of fine and premium wines from traditional European wine regions as well as South America and South Africa for sale primarily to our Asian client base.

The majority of our staff are wine experts with a plethora of working experience within the Fine Wine Industry, as well as having a team of regional specialists from most of the major wine producing regions of the world. When sourcing En Premier Wines for our clients, we aim to present rare, interesting and ultimately, wines that will become investment must-haves.' 

ADT Brokerage's site has plenty of guff but little substance. I assume by En Premier they mean En Primeur, which is correctly spelt in the explanation.  

A Paul Morrison is said to be the Business Director of ADT Brokerage Ltd. But hang on the picture of a bald chap purporting to be Mr Morrison appears familiar. A search on Google Images shows that the same Mr Morrison is apparently involved in many companies such as Krapf Chiropractic Associates, AEC Factory, Injury Demands, Assurity Staffing Group, Chodosh & Chodosh, Pipsco, Matik Financial (where he is called Scott Neve, international sales manager, and many more. 

Although doubtless Paul Morrison is multi-talented, this is a stock photo for businesses as are other photos on the ADT Brokerage site. 

The ADT Brokerage site does not include Terms & Conditions. The contact address: 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX is a mailing address. No contact details are given for Asia although the company claims that its sales are 'primarily to our Asian client base'. 

ADT Brokerage Ltd is not a registered UK company. Copyright on their website is dated 2012 but the website was registered very recently – on 5th October 2014 in Denmark. ADT Brokerage Ltd's website registrant is Jason Chambers, 191C Seven Sisters Road, London N4 3NG. 44-year-old Jason Chambers became the sole director of Viprix Solutions Ltd (described as a 'Software Consultancy') on 5th June 2014 – this is Chambers' only directorship.   
 

Registrant: Jason Chambers   

Given the lack of solid information about the ADT Brokerage including whether the company has any track record or expertise in fine wine, ADT Brokerage Ltd is not for me thanks! 

   

 

 

1947 Musigny Vieilles Vignes – 'serious reservations'

Message received this morning from Corney & Barrow expressing serious doubts about some 1947 Musigny Vieilles Vignes

'Good morning,

As the UK agents for Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé we would like to make you aware of the following:

A quantity of 1947 Musigny Vieilles Vignes appears to be being offered to the trade. It is suggested that it comes from a private European cellar and to have been released from the Domaine in the 1980’s.

The Domaine and Corney & Barrow are  aware of this and have serious reservations as to the authenticity of these bottles/cases. Should you be offered this wine we would be most interested to hear from you.

Yours sincerely

Will

Will Hargrove
Associate director and head of fine wine
DL: (44) 020-7265 2418
M: (44) (0) 7879 818693
E: will.hargrove@corneyandbarrow.com
corneyandbarrow.com

Farr Vintners buys Magnum Fine Wines

Farr Vintners has today announced that they have bought long established Magnum Fine Wines Ltd, which was founded in 1985. Alan Rayne, who has been a director of the company since 1992 and its managing director for many years, has decided to retire, which is fair enough given that he was born in the great vintage of 1947.

Magnum has been a properly run wine investment company and had there been more Magnums the image of wine investment today would surely not be sharing the floor with carbon credits, coloured diamonds and the like.

Message from Stephen Browett, chairman of Farr Vintners  
'Farr Vintners is delighted to announce that we have purchased Magnum Fine Wines following Alan Rayne’s decision to retire from the wine trade. I have known Alan for nearly 30 years and feel very honoured that he has chosen to entrust Farr Vintners to look after his customers and their wine portfolios in the future. Alan is rightly proud of the business that he has built up and a key part of his decision to pass the company on to Farr Vintners was that he knows that his customers will continue to receive exemplary and professional service.  

Farr Vintners, like Magnum Fine Wines, holds all of its stocks and customer reserves in the outstanding underground cellars of Octavian Vaults. Magnum’s customers can rest assured that they will continue to have their precious wines stored in the world’s best wine storage facility.

Over the last 5 years alone, Farr Vintners, based in Battersea, South London, has sold nearly £600 million worth of fine wine and is now the world’s leading Fine Wine Wholesaler, storing well over a million bottles of wine on behalf of its customers, who are based in many countries all around the world.

Farr Vintners was the first UK wine merchant to open an office in the Far East when Farr Vintners Asia was established in Hong Kong nearly 20 years ago. Our sales teams in both London and Hong Kong will be very pleased to assist Magnum’s customers and offer genuinely informed and expert advice on all aspects of wine buying, selling and storage. The first contact for Magnum customers in the UK is Farr Vintners Director Tom Hudson (tom@farrvintners.com) and in Asia Jo Purcell, Managing Director of Farr Vintners Asia (jopurcell@farrhk.com). However Alan Rayne will be pleased to help and advise customers until he leaves the company at the end of September. 

Over the coming weeks we will be working hard to integrate Magnum Fine Wines’ customer information into our own system and once this is completed we will be able to offer customers access to their portfolios online as well as the wealth of information available to our existing customers. We will contact customers once this process is complete with further details.'