Oenofuture Limited has recently ceased trading and a very complex situation is evolving.  The offices at Royal Exchange within the City of London were closed down at the end of November 2025.  At this stage (22 December 2025) there is no clarity over the current ownership of Oenofuture Limited.  The company still exists as a legal entity but has no management control.  It appears to have considerable debts and it probably needs to be placed into administration.  This would enable an independent insolvency practitioner to assess the company’s affairs and determine the appropriate course of action for creditors.  At this stage, it is not clear if there is any creditor who will be willing to initiate this process, but efforts are being made to identify someone.  The company is NOT currently in administration on the date this factsheet was compiled.

According to Companies House, the previous sole Director, Michael Peter Doerr, resigned with effect from 3 June 2025 although Companies House were only notified on 4 November 2025.  According to Companies House, the new sole Director is Marshall Willis Deutsch who was appointed on 3 June 2025 although the notification was only made on 4 November 2025.

If you have invested money by purchasing wine or whisky from Oenofuture Limited over the last decade, you need to be aware that you may ultimately lose some or all of your money.  It is our current belief that only a small percentage of client wine – perhaps 20% – is held in individual customer accounts that the customer will be able to access.  Our understanding is that the remainder of the wine is held in an account controlled by Oenofuture Limited.  Over the last month, efforts have been made behind the scenes to transfer as much wine as possible from Oenofuture Limited into individual customer accounts, but this has been a mammoth task and only a relatively small amount of wine has been transferred.

On Friday 19 December 2025, a notice was placed on the Oenofuture Limited website which was an effort by the City of London Trading Standards Service to advise concerned investors about the difficulties with the business.  This message was not the complete message that was intended to be published.

Open-source research shows that the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme registration (number XKAW 000 0011 9972) for Oenofuture Limited was deregistered on 2 October 2025.  This scheme is administered by HMRC in the UK.  Open-source research also shows that HMRC initiated a bankruptcy petition (Case BR-2025-000822) against an individual called Michael Peter Doerr during the summer 2025 but the status of that case is unknown.

If you think you have been a victim of fraud in relation to your purchase of wine or whisky from Oenofuture Limited, you must contact the UK Police via Report Fraud (formerly Action Fraud). https://www.reportfraud.police.uk  The Police will, in due course, review any reports that they receive and decide under their own protocols if there is any action that they can take or any help they can provide.

If you are contacted by anyone who says that they can recover your money, wine or whisky on payment of a fee, this will most likely be what is called a ‘recovery fraud’ and our advice is to pay no money to anybody.

At the moment, if you have invested money to purchase wine or whisky, it is recommended that you try and track down exactly where your wine or whisky is located, using any paperwork that you have and contacting any bonded warehouses that are referred to in that paperwork.  Ideally, the wine or whisky will be stored in an account in your name and not held under the control of Oenofuture Limited.  If it is not held under your name, it is suggested that you work with the bonded warehouse and set up an account in your own name to try and get the wine or whisky transferred.  This appears to be a grey area, and a transfer may not now be possible but it is worth a try. 

In addition, if you paid using a UK credit card, you may be able to raise a claim under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 so you must contact your card company and tell them what has happened.  If you paid money to Oenofuture Limited from a UK bank account after 2019, you may be able to raise a claim under what is called the Contingent Reimbursement Model if you think you have been a victim of fraud.  Speak to your bank.

If an administrator is appointed in due course, this will be recorded on the official Companies House website record for Oenofuture Limited.

The City of London Trading Standards Service is unable to deal on a one-to-one basis with any enquiries regarding Oenofuture Limited, and we will simply send a copy of the latest fact sheet to any new enquiries that we receive.  Our involvement is simply to try and inform investors about the current situation with the business.  Any further updates will be published on the Trading Standards section of the City of London Corporation website.

22 December 2025