Tracey Roxburgh

In this week's Behind the Story Tracey Roxburgh talks to one of Central Otago's first winemakers, Grant Taylor, about Valli Vineyard - and why he has steadfastly remained a small, boutique operation.

Three charities are set to benefit from the 2013 Queenstown Winter Festival, including a trust established to provide financial assistance to children at Wakatipu High School.

Richard Hutchens models In a Frazzell about Frizzell, made by Sharon Gilchrist, in the Old Masters category of the Art2Wear show, part of the Arrowtown Autumn Festival, at the Athenaeum Hall last night.

Following a successful two-day tournament at Millbrook Resort last week, Jim Malcolm, of Royal Wellington Golf Club, Fran Weinstein, of North Shore Golf Club, and Steve Hyun, also of the North Shore club, will travel to Germany later this year to represent New Zealand at the 2013 MercedesTrophy World Final.

Queenstown Lakes District Council chief executive Adam Feeley says there is ''absolutely a potential'' for a conflict of interest in appointing Queenstown Lakes Mayor Vanessa van Uden's husband, Peter Laurenson, as acting chief executive of Lakes Environmental.

More than 150 customers have signed up to use a ground-breaking Dunedin-based hospitality industry business tool and, with two major investors backing the project, its future looks bright.

Four new schools may be opened in Queenstown by 2017, with backers of an independent school in the resort announcing Jacks Point as its preferred location and a potential opening date in 2015.

Departing Lakes Environmental chief executive Hamish Dobbie says his decision to leave the position he has held since 2007 has been ''an evolving process in my mind''.

An announcement on the preferred site an independent school in Queenstown is imminent, following a meeting with the land owners in the resort last week.

The Queenstown postal worker who stole thousands of pieces of mail from Wakatipu residents has been sentenced to 17 months in jail.