Dine & Cook | Alternative food journalism

A former New Zealand-based wine consultant has been charged with fraud, accused of selling more than $1 million worth of fake high-end wine.

Simon Gregory Mickleson was employed by an exclusive Auckland auction house as a fine wine expert and among his victims are members of New Zealand's elite-- top surgeons, business owners and a law firm owned by the country's richest family.

Police said Mickleson altered labels to make wines appear older than they were.  In one instance police say he hired a graphic designer to change labels in a photograph to make a case of 2001 Chateau Lafite appear to be from the more expensive 1981 vintage.  He then tried to sell the misrepresented wine to two clients for $76,870, both pulled out of the sale after suspecting the labels were false.

Mickleson also reportedly sold high end wine to clients that he did not have.  For one sale he allegedly altered invoices to make it appear that he had the highly collectable Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and Chateau Petrus wines.  He then sold the wine to two Australian collectors whose initial $19,607 purchase was never delivered.

Highly in debt, police say Mickleson used money made on legitimate sales to pay off clients.  According to court documents, in 2007 he reportedly sold $313,820 worth of wine to a top New Zealand surgeon.  After it turned out that he couldn't supply the wine, Mickleson spent the next two years paying the surgeon off "by taking money off other good clients and failing to deliver the wine" and also "handing him other vendors' wine to clear the debt."

Court documents also allege that Mickleson made a fraudulent stolen wine insurance claim for $98,622 to pay off the debt. 
Wine merchant John Macpherson told the “Sunday Star Times” that Mickleson had excellent wine knowledge, adding that he was "an interesting character."

Macpherson also said the wine deals with Mickleson were "always very slow and very difficult."

Mickleson appeared in Auckland District Court on Friday and was remanded on bail without plea.