Cult Wines, the Reviews – this is such an accident waiting to happen

I have raised numerous red flags about wine investment firm Cult Wines. It is an accident waiting to happen and anyone using its services is just asking for it. I have asked the FCA to wade in but it appears happy to let folks carry on losing their hard earned. The 2025 Annual Report is due by September 30^th. It will be horrible and will, as is Cult’s wont, be filed horribly late.  But what do customers think?

Since June 1 there have been eight reviews on TrustPilot. One is a five star review from a chap in Indonesia (Christian), not normally an alcohol friendly place. Christian only ever appears to have used Trust Pilot once and I call this out as bogus. The other seven are witheringly bad. All make allegations of not being able to get money out or, worse still, of Cult not having ownership of wines punters have ponied up for.

As I say, invest in Cult and you will lose money. It is a car crash waiting to happen where the FCA will only act after it is too late as with so many of the mini bond ponzis I flagged up to it. Enjoy:

Jochen Rummel JR

DE

Jul 15, 2026

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Untrustworthy

I have been a Cultwines customer for years and recently tried to transfer the wines I had purchased to a significantly cheaper provider. Their customer service is a disaster and completely uncooperative. Some of the wines have now been moved, but it turns out that other wines I bought a long time ago are not even in my storage. They are claiming these are the 2019 and 2022 vintages, which is simply impossible. I can only warn everyone against doing business with this company. They are not reputable. Stay away from Cultwines.

john r

PT

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Wine can be a good investment but not here

I decided to transfer my wine portfolio out of Cult Wines approximately 18 months ago following a number of concerns.

During the transfer process, it became apparent that several wines - despite being readily available on the open market - had not been delivered. While a number of cases have since been received (initially attributed to warehouse migration issues), a number still remain outstanding. This is despite reassurances from the CEO, in April, that everything would be delivered by now.

Delivery timelines have repeatedly slipped. Initial assurances pointed to completion by Q4 2025; this deadline and later ‘estimates’ passed without update. When challenged with evidence that the wines are available elsewhere, various inconsistent explanations were offered, shifting from claims that the wines were en primeur and therefore not yet physically available, to more general logistical issues.

I have repeatedly requested documentary proof that the outstanding wines have been paid for by Cult. No such evidence has been provided. Instead, I have received only rolling delivery estimates ranging from one to twelve weeks.

I am very concerned about their financial state; the company’s accounts have been filed late for the last three years, including auditor references to going concern considerations and substantial outstanding creditor balances. This raises legitimate questions as to whether these financial constraints may be contributing to the ongoing inability to deliver assets.

Further concern arises from written assurances that the business is backed by Coterie as a “strategic partner.” This representation was explicitly made by a member of staff. However, public filings at Companies House indicate that Coterie holds a secured lender position rather than an equity interest. Despite multiple requests for clarification, together with supporting documentation - which should be readily available if the representation is accurate - no evidence has been provided to substantiate this claim.

It is also notable that numerous negative reviews - raising similar issues of unfulfilled transfers, lack of communication, and difficulty recovering funds - appear to be removed shortly after being posted.

Overall, my experience has been characterised by poor transparency, arrogant management, missed deadlines, and the continued failure to deliver paid-for assets.

Sean

IE

Jun 25, 2026

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Do NOT invest any money with this…

Do NOT invest any money with this company. I have been dealing with Cult wines ever since they took over Premier Cru wines well over ten years ago. My initial dealings were positive and I built up a portfolio over over £1 million. However, over the last 2 years the situation has deteriorated significantly. I requested transfer of all of my holdings and repayment of funds in Sept 2024. The stock transfer has proceeded extremely slowly and they still hold over £100k in stock which, to date, they have failed to transfer. None of the cash funds have been refunded during this period. Some of the holdings in my portfolio do not have rotation numbers which leads me to question whether they even exist. While some of the people working there seem reasonable people, I cannot recommend this company and would strongly caution anyone thinking of investing any money with them. Based on other reviews, one would have to question whether some of this is fraudulent practice.

James Osborn

GB

Updated Jun 29, 2026

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Update: £1,400 received; portfolio questions remain outstanding

Update: £1,400 received; portfolio questions remain outstanding

I requested withdrawal of £1,400 from my Cult Wines account on 31 May 2026. After numerous follow-ups by text, email and telephone, the payment was received on 26 June 2026.

I appreciate that the money has now been paid. However, Cult Wines did not provide a firm payment date during the process, despite my repeated requests, which caused unnecessary concern. A further £73.10 remains as cash on my account and is due to be reflected on the updated portal.

My wine portfolio has also recently been transferred from Cult Wines to CultX. Cult has provided a detailed stock-assignment spreadsheet, which was helpful, but I am seeking clarification on several points.

In particular, 36 holdings on the CultX portal currently appear unavailable for physical delivery, including some that the spreadsheet records as physically held at Coterie with warehouse rotation numbers. I have asked Cult to explain these portal restrictions and confirm that they do not affect my ownership or ability to arrange delivery or transfer manually.

I have also requested clarification regarding wines awaiting arrival, items marked as migrating, split-case allocations, holdings in Hong Kong, and direct warehouse-level confirmation from Coterie.

I will update this review again once these matters have been answered.

ASG

BE

•

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Cultwines not trustworthy

I am a customer of Cultwines since 2019. All went well during investment period. However at the end of 2024 for the first time I asked to send me a pay out of a portion of my portfolio that was sold. After several months pushing still not a single penny was wired. In the press I found some alarming articles about the financial situation of Cultwines. So I asked to buy several wines to ensure my cash balance was empty and the assets were on my name (if they would go bankrupt). At the beginning of 2026 I took the decision to stop the collaboration with Cultwines and transfer all of my stoch to another warehouse. After numerous mails and calls, only about 90% of my assets were transferred. The rest of my stock presumably was "on a trasport from Hong Kong" without knowing what the delivery date was. I asked several times to pay me back the "unknown" stock, but still after several weeks, I miss several ten thousends of GBP, which they are unable to pay me.

I can sincerely advise everyone against becoming a customer. Cultwines is clearly in financial troubles and are using the assets of their clients to pay their financial liabilities.

Ferdinand Petrelluzzi

AU

Jun 6, 2026

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Sale Completed but Still Waiting for My Money

I invested £15,000 with this company in January 2022. Around two years ago, I first contacted them to discuss liquidating my portfolio, but communication and support from the account managers were consistently poor. The response was always that market conditions were difficult and that I should continue holding my investment until the market improved.

In early February 2026, I made it clear that I was willing to proceed with a sale, even at a discounted price, and the sale was processed. I was advised that the transfer of funds would take between 30 and 60 days.

More than four months later, I am still waiting to receive my money. The wines have been sold, yet I have not received the proceeds of the sale. I now find myself in the unacceptable position of having neither the wines nor access to my money.

Despite numerous follow-ups, I continue to receive vague explanations that the funds are “pending”, with no clear timeline for when payment will be made. The lack of communication, transparency and accountability has been extremely frustrating and has caused a great deal of unnecessary stress and anxiety.

Based on my experience, I would urge any prospective investor to exercise caution and conduct thorough due diligence before investing with this company. My experience as a client has been deeply disappointing, and I am still waiting for the funds from a sale that was completed months ago.

Ferdi

Chris Gillies

GB

Updated Jun 21, 2026

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awful. Do not invest your money here.

Update:

This review finally got the company's attention. The Chief Revenue Officer reached out to me and apologised. After a two year wait, I received my money a week later, which is a big relief. The company has experienced difficulties and there is no excuse for poor customer communications, but he listened, apologised, and took action. It's sad that it took a one star review on Trustpilot to get the job done...

Appalling service. I asked for my portfolio to be sold and was told I would need to take a 15% discount in valuation to sell it. After several months, I was informed that the final case had been sold in April 2024. Having been given multiple spurious explanations for the delay (everything from sickness in the Finance team to the need to resubmit my payment request on the portal) I am still waiting to receive the £7,589.83 that is owing to me (this amount has been confirmed multiple times in emails and on the portal but I'm still waiting to receive the money).

When I suggested that my next step should be legal action I was told that this would result in my payment request being suspended while my case was 'investigated'.

Well, this just feels like a ponzi scheme scam. They must be so short of cash that they can't pay me until some other mug invests...which explains why I keep receiving emails from them suggesting that I invest more!

Why should I invest more with a firm that has lost me money and when I finally cut my losses and get out takes over two years to pay me?

Awful.

Do not invest your money here.