Cheap fine wine? Don't be fooled
If something seems too good to be true, it usually is - as hundreds of hopeful wine buyers recently discovered to their cost.
Responding to advertisements carried in the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph, the buyers paid up-front for cases of fine wine, such as chateau Latour and Petrus, from a company called Surplus Wines UK.
The ad promised cheap fine wine from a European supplier due to cancelled orders, but customers have yet to receive their first bottle.
Surplus Wines UK was tracked down to a restaurant in Leeds city centre and was found to have gone into administration a month after the adverts ran, while parent company director Dennis LeFrancq is believed to have left the country.
"Quite clearly we would like to speak to him at the earliest opportunity," commented acting detective sergeant Jon Cockeram of West Yorkshire Police's Economic Crime Unit.
It follows fears that the exceptional quality of 2009 Bordeaux may spark an increase in wine fraud, further underlining the importance of sourcing from a reputable supplier.