Pinot noir often needs some bottle age to mellow and harmonise; no more than two to three years for some, while the best will continue to develop interest and complexity for five to 10 years or even longer.
Many people are familiar with the All Blacks' haka, but there are other types of haka for all occasions, for women as well as men, Louise Potiki Bryant, 2014 Caroline Plummer Fellow at the University of Otago, tells Charmian Smith.
Your mother may have told you not to play with your food, but these days playing with food and telling stories with it is a culinary trend.
Sometimes modern versions of traditional European wines like Spanish tempranillo-based red from the Rioja region can be good value despite coming halfway around the world. They offer a different flavour and structure from the New Zealand and Australian wines we are used to.
Many of us fear dementia, for either ourselves or our family members, but few of us know much about it. However, a new verbatim play, The Keys are in the Margarine, exploring the stories of Dunedin people and their families living with dementia, aims to give some insight. Charmian Smith reports.
Pinot gris is diversifying from the sweet, fruity high alcohol wines of recent years. Now more savoury, textural versions are appearing as winemakers age the wine on lees or even do some barrel fermentation.
Riesling is so varied it can be difficult to tell what style you will find in the bottle unless there's a guide on the back. This tasting revealed dry, austere styles, sweeter ones, full-bodied ones, delicate ones and lush, rich ones with a dry finish.
BEST VALUE
Palliser Estate Martinborough Riesling 2012
The Southern Sinfonia's concert on Saturday includes the world premiere of a new violin concerto by Dunedin composer Anthony Ritchie, played by Bulgarian violinist Bella Hristova, for whom it was written. Charmian Smith reports.
It's pumpkin time, and there's a new variety available this year, the small butterkin, shaped like a small pumpkin but with flesh the colour of butternut.
Viognier produces full bodied, soft, lush wines and, like chardonnay, can be barrel fermented or oak aged. It does particularly well in Hawkes Bay.
After early ups and downs, wine growing in the Waitaki Valley is realising its potential, writes Charmian Smith.
The food the world wastes is enough to feed all the world's hungry several times over.
A witty comedy verging on farce with important themes underlying the humour, Alan Bennett's The History Boys opens at the Globe Theatre next week. Charmian Smith reports.
When Sukhi and Joanna Gill opened the first Little India restaurant in Dunedin 23 years ago, they developed Sukhi's mother Premjit's recipes for their menu.
Sparkling wine comes in many styles, from easy drinking, to lean and elegant, and even fully flavoured with nutty, yeasty, biscuity characters.
Although unburdened by talent and tone-deaf, Florence Foster Jenkins had a singing career in New York, culminating in a concert at Carnegie Hall. Her tragically comic story is told in Souvenir at the Fortune Theatre. Charmian Smith reports
As the new vintage wines are being made, last year's sauvignons tend to be drinking at their peak. Here are some I tasted recently. It's certainly not true that all sauvignon needs to be quaffed within 12 months.
Any foodie going to Italy will want to take the 2014 edition of Fred Plotkin's Italy for the Gourmet Traveler (New Holland), preferably the electronic version that is in the pipeline, as the hard copy is hefty.
Painting is a necessary part of Nigel Brown's existence. He feels bereft if he doesn't paint for a while, he tells Charmian Smith.
Deborah Manning saw plenty of food going to waste from businesses, and people going hungry; she saw dumpster divers fishing good food out of skips behind supermarkets, which supermarkets didn't like, and food discarded from businesses going to landfill, with detrimental environmental effects.
