Cult Wines Reviews 

I've been with CW for 5 years now, wine prices have gone down but that's the least of my worries.

As I try to liquidate my account I am encountering significant delays. The wines "sell" but then funds don't clear for months. Nobody can tell me when I will have funds in my account to remit, nor what the remittance process is.

I've written multiple times asking for clarity on my portfolio without success. This is now feeling like a company in significant financial distress so I would suggest doing everything you can to liquidate or transfer as quickly as you can. That's if they'll let you.

the best marketplace platform I’ve used. Great selection of wines and prices seem very competitive

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.

I had searched the Cult Wines sections for valuable information and also to educate myself about the wine trade. A very nice gentleman by the name of Connor Adams contacted me and enquired whether I needed assistance of any kind. We had a few super interesting email communications, and I explained that I was an owner of a small collection of fine Bordeaux wines. In fact I was wondering how to bring wine to the market if I intended to sell my fine wines one day. Throughout our communications Connor took time to explain details about the wine trade and the services Cult Wines offered. He even offered to make a value estimate of the wines I hold at a bonded warehouse and gave lots of suggestions on how to grow the wine cellar or how to use the Cult Wines platform to trade wines. I was extremely pleased with the attentive service of Connor and want to give him a "thumbs up". I shall in future continue to make use of the services of Cult Wines. Thank you and well done! Christian

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

I have had continued issues with liquidating my account. I had invested in a portfolio of fine wines several years ago, sold those last year, but have not had success in Cult Wine disbursing my funds to me. Incompetent organization.

Since being introduced to the CultX exchange by Tom, I’ve been very impressed by both the range of wines and the bidding function.

I invested with Cult Wines over 5 years ago. Initially the service was good and I had some good gains in my wine investments. However over the past few years I feel that the service has declined to a point where I decided to transfer my wines away. I initially made contact to start the process at the back end of last year. To date part of my wine portfolio has been transferred but there is still a significant number of wines still not transferred. I am also still waiting for a return of funds that are held in my account. The review I have given is based on the very poor customer service where you have to continually chase for a reply as to the progress on these matters.
I would definitely not recommend Cult Wines

Update – 21 August 2026

Cult Wines have now responded publicly to this review saying that their team is “already in contact” with me regarding the next steps.

Unfortunately, that does not reflect my experience. I have received no substantive response to my recent formal correspondence.

More importantly, on 5 August I was given a specific written proposal that £45,749 of outstanding funds would be repaid at £5,000 per week, with the first payment due today, 21 August. As at the time of writing, that payment has not been received.

I am also still waiting for a satisfactory reconciliation explaining the amounts outstanding and the position regarding the remaining assets.

I would be very happy to update this review positively if Cult Wines resolve the matter. At present, however, the continued lack of communication and the failure to meet another specifically promised payment date only reinforces the concerns raised in my original review.

I've really appreciated all the help from Cult Wines. The portal is easy to use, and pretty intuitive. I have especially appreciated all the personal help from Aarash Ghatineh. I am a small time investor in wine, and Aarash has really invested time in helping me navigate the wine market, both in buying and selling.

An intuitive and well-performing platform — a great way to combine financial investing with a passion for wine

Expert in their fields. No selling, just walking you through their knowledge

Superb business with great customer service and great returns. Couldn’t recommend them highly enough.

*** Update - Response to Cult Wines' Reply ***

My original review is below, this is an update to their reply.

1. Market Volatility: My complaint was never about the sales price or market performance, it was not being paid for wines that had already been sold. Market conditions do not explain a failure to pay on a completed transaction. Other merchants I deal with settled promptly under the very same market conditions.

2. Resolution: My account was indeed "fully settled", but only after I paid £2,000 to a solicitor to issue a Letter Before Action. Months of emails and calls produced no result. I was never offered options to"relist" or "take physical delivery", the wines were marked as 'sold' and no longer in my cellar. It was I who suggested returning the wines since they seemed unable to settle, it was not an option they volunteered, as their reply suggests. The "residual funds" were compensation for wines released from custody without payment, which could no longer be returned. Their reply makes this sound like standard procedure, from my perspective, it was anything but.

3. Price Discovery: I set the sale price when I listed the wine on their platform. There was no extended price discovery process. The delay was purely in receiving payment for a completed sale, not in finding a buyer or achieving a better price.

4. Asset Security: I contacted Coterie Vaults directly. They told me wines are held under a single Cult Wines corporate account and cannot be searched by individual client name, only by Rotation Number. This contradicts their reply, and is why I advised investors in my original review to record their Rotation Numbers.

5. Communication: Some calls and emails were answered, but with vague assurances and no concrete timelines or commitments. No meaningful progress occurred until my solicitor became involved.

Had this process been as smooth as their reply suggests, I would not have needed to spend £2,000 in legal fees to access my own funds. I stand by my original review and my advice to fellow investors to exercise caution.

*** Original Review ***

In September 2025, I sold a portion of a portfolio I bought in 2019. After waiting their 'standard' 90 days for settlement and receiving nothing, I spent the next 3 months sending emails and making phone calls. Since they seemed unwilling or unable to pay the £28k that was due, I requested they instead reverse the sales and return the wines to me. Still with no resolution, in February 2026, I finally had to hire a firm of UK solicitors to threaten legal action.

Once threatened with court proceedings, the sales that they previously said were final were reversed. Several cases of wine were returned to me, though they still had to pay out for 10 cases they apparently no longer had access to.

In my experience, a company claiming to manage £200m in assets that takes months of chasing and the threat of legal action to settle just £28k raises serious questions. Based on my dealings with them, I felt their handling of my case suggested a lack of experience in managing a fund of this nature. The way they dealt with my claim felt amateurish. To be fair, the CultX online platform is polished and well-designed, but my experience behind the scenes was very different, and left me with little confidence in their operations.

As a precautionary measure, I moved the remainder of my collection to another merchant due to concerns I developed during this process about the company's long-term reliability. My research during the legal process gave me the impression that these operational issues may not be isolated.

My advice for anyone already invested:

1. Consider transferring your wines to another established merchant. It's a straightforward and inexpensive process, and in my experience, other platforms settle significantly faster without the need for legal pressure.

2. Record your Rotation Numbers. If you still plan to sell on CultX, make a note of the Rotation Numbers of your wines in the far right column of your cellar view before listing them for sale. Having them allows you to verify the physical custody of your stock with Coterie Vaults, which may be important if you ever need to escalate a dispute, as I had to.

Wine is already a high-risk investment. In my view, a sound investment shouldn't require spending £2,000 on a solicitor to access your own money. Add what I experienced as an unreliable settlement process, and the investment becomes even harder to justify.

Based solely on my own experience, I found Cult Wines to be the most difficult exit I've ever had with any investment. In my opinion, there are more reliable wine investment alternatives available in the UK, and I would encourage anyone considering wine investment to research their options thoroughly before committing.

Always an interesting evening in a great location. A great opportunity to taste wines that I would not normally come across, with excellent accompanying nibbles and to learn more about the industry.

I started working with Cult a few years ago with a modest allocation, unsure if wine could truly rival my equity portfolio. Today, it’s one of my most consistent performers. My advisor at Cult Wines didn't just push 'big names'; they identified undervalued gems in Piedmont and Tuscany before the market spiked. The transparency of their CultX platform is also excellent and as easy to use as any brokerage account