BRIBERY - INVESTDRINKS RECOMMENDS....

Jim Budd is certainly an avid wine lover and drinker. He even comments on his site, ..'I certainly can not afford to drink all the wine I NEED TO test...'

Would a man who NEEDS to drink wine to test but can not afford, possibly take bribes from companies wishing to avoid negative comments?

Further still would they want to get listed on his recommended list?

Take for example 'Bordeaux Wine Investments', recently added on to his recommended sites after having very little history and charging prices that are just as high if not higher than most investment companies out there. Why else would they have been added, what reasons could he possibly give?

As a strong example of biased behaviour Berry Brothers & Rudd has never been commented on by Jim, yet the prices are astronomical, often 20-30% higher than smaller companies. Either he is afraid they have the money to sue, or he gets plenty of benefits.

Jim asks for money politely and 'anonymously' on his site. But as anyone knows due to money laundering laws, you can not have an anonymous payment made, the company payment of course shows up on paypal. Payment made, Jim kindly decides what level of courtesy they should receive.

A man with good morals? I certainly don't think so!

Defamation & Harassment

Jim Budd is no stranger to defamation, in 2001 he was presented with a court injunction forcing his service provider to take down material about several companies. He then moved his base to Canada where the laws are more relaxed. Although he had reported on some genuinely fraudulent companies, which the police dealt with, he has always presented the fact that he hates wine investment, because he thinks wine should be enjoyed by people that understand and love it, not just for the rich and famous. Most people understand that they can't always have the things they want (we learn this as kids), Jim certainly doesn't understand this.

He used to attack companies like Bordeaux Index and Farr Vintners, stating that they were 'barrow boys from Essex', ex-traders from the City. This may well be true but they are now two of the biggest companies in Europe for wine. It also seems rather odd that Jim thinks that a persons background should prevent them from working within an industry.

Jim has been printing stories about companies on his blog for quite some time. He recently started attacking some new companies who were powerless to prevent his defamation.

One story below was given to us by a popular wine company:

"Jim has defamed our family name, harrassed our loved ones by e-mail for information, stolen letters, faked client information and put fake information on the internet which he has refused to take down. We can not understand why he has attacked us".

It seems Jim has been slightly put out by a lack of money offers or free wine from the above company, or perhaps it was the fact that they argued so vehemtly with him.

Narrow Minded and Short sighted.....

Second article Narrow Minded and Short sighted.....

Jim Budd’s motivation for his work must be questioned. Working under a confused ethos which is narrow minded can be extremely dangerous particularly as a journalist. Very rarely do you hear of Mr Budd praising the work of wine investment companies, his focus is consumed by the negative. The hard work that many bona fide companies put in, the lengths that they go to in order to satisfy their clients is never mentioned. Mr Budd looking in from the outside (hideaway in Canada) simply continues to invent problems and victimise people. Of course, there are concerns about the industry and this has been highlighted by the recent arrest of key figures at Nouveau World Wines but it is not the job of Mr Budd to harass companies, formulate unfounded comments and manipulate the facts. Mr Budd is so short sighted that he will advise people not to work with certain companies, whilst the companies that he gives his stamp of approval to are more than happy to do so.