Cult Wines Reviews 

Having been a client since 2014 I recently experienced some difficulties in adjusting to the new portal and understanding a new fee structure. My account manager was extremely helpful at this time. Overall I find the company professional, knowledgeable and informative both during upswings and downturns in the market.

Helped me rebuild confidence in wine investing after a bad experience with another firm. Provide plenty of useful information; listen to customers' requests; no hard sell.

Loving the new portal.Helpful team and some superb investments so far!

Extremely knowledgeable staff with great access to sought after vintages and very responsive

Really impressed with Cult Wines. Great investor care- all the way from making investment recommendations, managing portfolio and then facilitating exit at the right time. Have reinvested all returns up to this point- have great confidence in Cult’s ability to deliver returns.

As someone who has built up a substantial wine collection over the years, I recently decided it was time to explore options for selling some of my bottles. After meeting Cult Wines at a tasting event, I reached out to see if they could assist me in this process.

I was impressed by the professionalism and efficiency of the team at Cult Wines. Unlike dealing with traditional brokers, the process of selling my wines was remarkably streamlined and hassle-free. The team guided me through every step of the process with transparency and clarity, ensuring that I understood exactly what to expect.

What stood out to me was the level of communication and support provided throughout the entire transaction. I always felt well-informed about the progress of the sale, and any questions or concerns I had were addressed promptly and comprehensively.

Overall, my experience dealing with Cult Wines was positive and I’d recommend their services to anyone considering selling their wine collection.

A truly innovative company bringing a fresh perspective to investing in fine wine. They take the view that purchasing fine wine is similar to investing in the stockmarket and they apply the same analytical rigour to their data driven approach. Investment portfolio proposals are based on amount to invest, timeline for return and level of acceptable risk. They combine this with a high level of internal expertise and knowledge of the global wine market and purchase and drinking trends. The results are there to see as I have personally benefited from returns that are higher than my own expectations, even during down times. In my view, a smart alternative for the shrewd and canny investor, plus the benefits are tax free in some jurisdictions!

Great service and good performance. I really enjoyed meeting my relationship manager and tasting some wines from the portfolio at the London office.

Oh dear, reading the reviews, it is clear I am not the only one who has been totally hoodwinked by this business. It's amazing how quickly this business has gone downhill.

First, I've been invested since August 2018 with Sam Mudie, who was extremely professional in all our dealings. It's now 5+ years, and the total portfolio has barely kept up with inflation. With the performance of the wine market in the last 5 years, these guys could have thrown a dart at the wine market and made money, but I must be unlucky - the portfolio is up a total of 12%?! Lol, parking it in cash almost would have returned better.

Second, now, to make up for that awful performance, they've done their 2nd changing of the goalpost in as many years and raised the fees again. Great way to reward your loyal customers!

Third, their service used to be professional. Now, it's non-existent. Multiple account managers have come and gone and from 2023 they don't even provide an account manager. For 2% management fees p.a. you would expect a certain level of extra service to justify those hedge fund like fees, right? Nope.

Fourth, I am worried about the liquidation of the portfolio. I sold a few parcels of wine, and it took nearly 6 months to get my money back - that's just a few thousand - imagine the whole portfolio. When you do get to sell, welcome to the pain - there is no update on when the wines will sell, when you will receive the funds etc.

What a great way to run a good business into the ground. Well done guys.

I've been invested with Cult since 2011 and paid a 'lifetime' upfront fee of about 10% to cover their costs/commission. At some point and without, as far as I recall, consulting me, the fee arrangement was changed to an annual percentage in addition to the fee already paid. Ho Hum. Last year I decided to invest my funds elsewhere and instructed liquidation of my portfolio. After about 8 months I'm still waiting.... Interesting that almost all of the good reviews are from people who have money invested with Cult - their results always looked good - and all the bad reviews are from peaple who have tried to get money out! Should tell you something.

Absolutely dreadful experience. I can only echo the myriad of 1 star reviews below regarding delayed return of funds. I sold a portion of wines in June, it’s now December and I am still waiting …

A variety of responses and excuses (punctuated by weeks of silence). It has now come the time that unfortunately I will need to pursue legal action unless I get a satisfactory outcome / proposal this week.

A real sorry state of affairs.

I’ve been investing in wine for several years now and have used multiple brokers, I came on board with Cult Wines 5 years ago and can say they are the most sophisticated in terms of market analysis and service. It’s been a subdued year for the market and Cult Wines has kept me a breadth with conditions and presented some great opportunities. Compared with other brokers they have been proactive and traded my wines; therefore, I’ve decided to consolidate my holdings with them.

Total rip off. I invested $10k over five years ago and paid my fees up from which at the time was around 10%. They changed their fee structure and now want to charge extra 2% per year. The value of my wines has only gone up to around $13k in all that time. I need to sell because I lost income from work and they charge another 5-10% per sale which would be fine but nothing sold in months. My account manager has not been responsive. At this point I am very skeptical of getting any part of my investment back.

We've been dealing with Cult Wines for a number of years and have always been pleased with the wines we've bought and traded while also enjoying our communications with their team.

I have been with this company for a couple of years now. I've never been in regular contact with my relationship manager or any other members. There is a low level of service.
I requested a liquidation for all my investment back in July 2023.
Received an option for instant sell at a reduced price or a better price if we went to market and sold but this would take longer.
I opted for the instant sale as I needed the funds for a personal medical expense and home improvements for my dad whose quality of life is deteriorating rapidly.
I would have thought that the funds would be with me over the next few days or week in July, even August to cover the cost of changing a few things around the house to make my dad comfortable.
Nothing materialised.
I chased and chased and was told it'll be paid back to me in a finance run on a Friday in some week in September or October......waited and nothing, I completed many online forms for the payments to be made, followed all the information and steps given to me.
My relationship manager Edward would tell me it'll be paid.
It's now mid December and I've still not got any money from this company.... The last chaser I made...had an absolutely ridiculous response from Edward asking me to confirm my bank details so he can chase it up.....why on earth would you tell me it's being paid a few months ago and then ask me to remind the company of my bank details when I've completed it on your portal many times.
I've now raised this as a formal complaint with the company.
Beware.....if you need access to the money either instantly or even within a month or two it's highly unlikely given my experience to date. I'm still waiting 5 months later.

I decided to sell my entire portfolio in May this year. By July the sales totalled £10,600, with about half of my portfolio sold. The total management fee for those sold lots was £1375.11 so I was expecting £9224.89 to be paid to me. It is now December and I haven't received a penny from Cult wines. The remaining wines in my portfolio are unsold and my manager is asking me if I want to lower the price or hold on to them. What I want is the money due to me to be paid. Legal action looks to be on the cards.

Since early 2023, I have invested with Cult Wines. I must, regrettably, advise caution in dealing with them until they resolve several critical issues.

Pros: The team's expertise in wine investment is commendable. They demonstrate a genuine enthusiasm and a deep understanding of the intricacies involved.

Cons:
* Customer Experience and Ethics: There are significant concerns here. My experience with fund misallocation due to human error, while rectified, was unsettling. Such incidents raise questions about internal processes and the safeguarding of client funds.
* Communication Gaps: Messages to support sent through their website often remain unanswered. This lack of responsiveness is a critical area needing improvement.
* Technical Issues: The introduction of the account portal is a positive step. However, its functionality is marred by bugs and incorrect balance displays, taking considerable time to resolve.
* Staff Changes and Continuity: The redundancy of my relationship manager in August led to several overlooked matters. Although most issues have since been addressed, this highlights the need for better transition and handover processes.
* Billing Practices: I signed up for annual in-arrears management fees. Even before the recently announced shift to monthly management fees (or annual in advance), Cult was deducting fees monthly from my balance without explicit consent or a way to verify. This approach does not align with transparent and client-focused practices.

It currently appears that Cult is either under-resourced or poorly managed. This situation has led to a series of operational challenges that significantly affect the client experience. I strongly recommend prospective clients to exercise caution and perhaps wait for the company to achieve a higher degree of operational stability before engaging in business with them.

As a satisfied client of Cult Wines, I wanted to share my experiences after approximately five years of investment with them. Whilst wine investment is notably distinct from traditional share portfolios or other mainstream investments, I have grown to like its quirks with Cult.

While the market might seem daunting at first, Cult Wines has proven to be a reliable and knowledgeable partner in growing my investment and my trust.

Compared to traditional assets, the process of buying and selling wine is far more intricate and requires patience. Cult Wines have provided me with the necessary insights and market analysis, helping me learn and make informed decisions with their guidance.

While the process of realising gains has generally been straightforward, it's important to highlight that there have been a few instances where lesser-known wines posed challenges during the selling process.

Some wines have been slower to sell from my portfolio and some of these were sold at losses. All of which has been explained throughout the process.

This tells me that it is important to do your DD when investing in certain sectors of the market. My advisor has been transparent about the risks involved and has provided me with good advice to manage the potential pitfalls.

The recent upgrades to my portal have made tracking my investment much easier. Although there’s some improvements to be made to navigation, on the whole it is a huge upgrade

To conclude my experience with Cult Wines, it has been largely positive. Their expertise have been invaluable. Yes there have been challenges along the way, but the team's guidance and professionalism have helped me achieve successful returns on my investment.

I would recommend Cult Wines to any investor looking to diversify their portfolio and explore the world of alternative investment in fine wine.

I recently had the need for some money so asked to sell some of my assets, which I know would take some time to be liquidated which as I needed the money in July, asking in April I thought would give plenty of time.

July came and went and not all the quantity was sold but there was some funds on account, so by October I duly asked for this to be refunded while the remaing was waiting to be sold and was promised this would be actioned. There is no ability to get the funds back youeself!

After frequent emails and promises, as of today, I have still not had any returned funds and have now spoken to a solicitor with a view to pursuing the debt through legal channels.

This is a very sorry state of affairs and one that has soured my experience and in my opinion appalling.

I have had a great experience with the group. I made a significant investment 6 years ago, which performed very well - notably during the Covid crisis. I partially exited my portfolio a few years back - it did take some time for them to sell the wines but this was explained to me prior and I was happy to wait to ensure that I extracted maximum profits on the exit. An interesting asset class, and just as well they store it otherwise it would be a daily sip-sip!