Charmian Smith

Tim Lynch grew up and trained as a chef in Dunedin. After working overseas for several years, he moved back to Dunedin because it is an easy place to live and good for bringing up a family.

Some of the 2012 pinot noirs are being released now but to get best value, especially from the more expensive, age-worthy ones, it's worth cellaring them for another year or so to allow them to mellow and integrate to develop their potential.

One of the world's longest-lasting and most revered string quartets, the Borodin Quartet from Russia, performs in Dunedin this Saturday as part of Arts Festival Dunedin 2014. Charmian Smith talks to viola player Igor Naidin.

With warmer weather and longer evenings rosé comes into its own. It's lovely with light fresh food and the drier ones can be surprisingly versatile.

When Tony Smith was growing up in Alexandra he grew to love rivers.

Dancing with mana is Maori contemporary dance company Atamira's core vision. Charmian Smith talks to artistic director Moss Patterson about Kaha, which they are touring to Dunedin as part of Arts Festival Dunedin.

Classic Marlborough sauvignon blanc, assertive and overflowing with vibrant aromas and flavours may be what New Zealand is known for, but toned-down styles with texture and complexity are sometimes more interesting and often more food friendly.

While most of New Zealand concentrates on Gallipoli and the Western Front in commemorating World War 1, there are other stories, including women's stories, that have never been told. Charmian Smith reports on a new theatre piece premiering at the Dunedin Arts Festival.

Tension, drama, jealousy, romance, war, spirituality and kings and chiefs make for a great story. Anthony Ritchie and Michelanne Forster's new opera This Other Eden, about events 200 years ago, has its world premiere in Arts Festival Dunedin next month. Charmian Smith reports.

What goes on in the mind of a nude model while she poses for a painter? Quite a lot, Charmian Smith discovers.

There will be weird stuff going on in St Paul's Cathedral during the Arts Festival, George Chittenden tells Charmian Smith.

When you see handsome hairy Highland cattle in the corner of a vineyard, they are likely to be part of a biodynamic system, providing manure for the compost, and later, other parts, such as horns, for the various preparations.

When pinot gris has fruit, texture and good balance, it can be delicious, but if it's unbalanced by being overly sweet or high in alcohol, it's not so pleasant.

It's not expensive to eat healthy food as the Heart Foundation and Federation of Family Budgeting Services' new 40-page cookbook, Cheap Eats: Easy, tasty and economical family meals, shows.

A comedy of menace presented in a cargo shed full of junk, where you are not quite sure what's happening, is an exciting Fortune Theatre project for Arts Festival Dunedin. Charmian Smith reports.

1950s New Zealand was in a moral ferment over the behaviour of teenagers. A new play about the intergenerational effects of that time has its world premiere at Arts Festival Dunedin next month, Charmian Smith reports.

Merlot and blends from Hawkes Bay can be raw and assertive when young. They need time to mellow and integrate in the bottle but if you are impatient, glugging them from the bottle into a jug and back again will help aerate and soften them a bit.

Is this the secret source of Central Otago pinot noir?

There are many ways to make coffee. Espresso is the most popular these days, but there are other methods that coffee aficionados love to explore.