October 29, 2009 9:00am by David Farrar

Is this not fraud?

An Australian wine writer’s latest book recommends several New Zealand wines, some of which had not even been bottled when it was released.

While reviewing Matt Skinner’s The Juice 2010 in August, The Listener’s wine writer Michael Cooper noticed the review copy had been released earlier than some of the wines it described.

“So, how could they have been tasted by Skinner, who lives in Australia, chosen as his best buys and gone through the whole writing, editing, printing, promotional process before someone like me in New Zealand has tasted them?” Cooper asked.

Cooper contacted the book’s British publisher and was told previous editions had been criticised for being out of date, so this time they decided to confirm the vintage and price ahead of time.

“Just one problem, Matt: you haven’t tasted the wine,” Cooper wrote.

I think authorities should treat this as a case of fraud. Skinner is selling a book purporting to be based on someone having sampled the wine.