1855 (1855.com, 1855.con): tally heading to 6000 bottles@300,000€

Château Beychevelle: 2005s and 2007s outstanding

The extraordinary tally of Bordeaux en primeurs not delivered by 1855 to its clients continues to mount and becomes ever more jaw-dropping. Nearly 6000 bottles remain to be delivered for a value of close on 300,000€.

As of today, the tally of wines known to have been ordered, paid for but not delivered has reached 5930 bottles (494 cases) for an estimated value 295,923€. The value is the cost to buy calculated by taking the cheapest price credible price from UK merchants on wine-searcher. The figures do not include excise duty and sales tax.

Vintage breakdown

2002           1 bottle             39.93€

2003       118 bottles     10,330.77€

2004       353 bottles     10,808.35€

2005     3734 bottles    170,372.96€ (+ 4 bottles Flor de Pingus 275€)

2006     1131 bottles      49,341.05€

2007       589 bottles      54,755.08€

Although it is clear that 1855 (1855.com) got into big problems with the 2005 en primeurs, these figures show that the difficulties had already started with the 2003 and 2004 vintages. Fabien Hyon's (COO of 1855) explanation that the failure by 1855 to deliver the ordered en primeurs is down to the economic crisis of 2008 looks increasingly unlikely. 

Hyon said that only 5% of the en primeurs ordered had yet to be delivered. Not knowing the total value of the en primeur orders placed for the vintages 2002-2007, it is impossible to know whether Hyon's figure is correct. However, 1855's total turnover is around 10 million euros and en primeur is only part of their business, so 5% may be an underestimate.  

Do 1855 have the resources to supply both the undelivered en primeurs from 2002-2007 as well as the 2008s, whiuch are due in June? 

1855 is a member of Fevad (la Fédération des entreprises de vente à distance).

From 1855's press release of 31st January 2011 announcing that they had become a member of La Fevad

'La Fevad accorde depuis toujours la plus grande importance à la promotion de règles fondées sur des valeurs de transparence et de respect du consommateur. Ces règles garantissent l`éthique de la profession et permettent de renforcer la confiance des consommateurs, dans l`intérêt de l`ensemble de la profession.'

'Toute entreprise membre de la Fevad s`engage à respecter les principes généraux et les règles prévus par les codes et chartes de la Fevad, tant dans l`esprit que dans la lettre.

"Le fait pour 1855 d`être devenu membre à part entière de la Fevad et signataire de ses codes et chartes est une nouvelle illustration de notre engagement à bâtir une qualité de service de référence » selon Fabien Hyon, Directeur général de 1855."

Contact Presse
Lucie Delaruelle
Responsable Communication, 1855
Tél. : +33 (0) 1 42 61 06 55 - Email : ldelaruelle@1855.com