Oddbins quash 'rumours' over Castel debt

In a strongly-worded letter to its suppliers, Oddbins has set the record straight over ‘gossip’ surrounding money owed to its former owner Castel.

It claimed for Castel to resort to legal proceedings was ‘not helpful’ to either party.

Oddbins has now settled this sum.

In an official statement to their suppliers, obtained by decanter.com, Oddbins owners Henry Young and Simon Baile have defended the non-payment.

They claimed they had withheld money to offset against sums owed by Castel, and taking the matter to Companies House was unnecessary.

In their statement Baile and Young said they were both ‘very upset’ by the action Castel had taken.

‘The company is expected to become profitable again next year following substantial losses under its former owners [Castel] and this action is not helpful to anyone,’ they added.

Baile told decanter.com their statement was an attempt to stop any speculation and uncertainty.

‘When you have gossip pedalled about, it’s important to tell it how it is and stop the rumour mill’.

In an official statement, Castel said, ‘As far as we are concerned, any financial issue which might have arisen between Castel, or Nicolas, and Oddbins has now been entirely resolved.’

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Written by Rebecca Gibb

Rebecca Gibb MW is a wine journalist and editor who has also founded Bamboozled games, ‘the world’s first wine and spirit puzzle makers’. Having spent six years living in New Zealand, she has recently returned to her native north-east England. While in New Zealand, she became a Master of Wine, graduating top of her class and winning the Madame Bollinger medal for excellence in tasting. A former winner of both the UK’s young wine writer of the year and the Louis Roederer Emerging Wine Writer, her first book The Wines of New Zealand was published in 2018. She also runs wine events and has her own consultancy business The Drinks Project. She was a judge at the 2019 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA).