It's hard being a chardonnay drinker these days.

If there is anyone who knows how to survive and excel as a woman working in a man's world, Sarah Limacher does.

The untrained palate may not always recognise an expensive wine, but that's not to say the quality isn't there.

A cloud of scepticism was descending. "We will taste the Champagne first at eight degrees in the classic narrow champagne flute and you will get accentuated chardonnay flavours," said Didier Mariotti, Champagne G.H. Mumm's chef de caves.

The 2011 harvest is all but over for the country's winemakers. The vineyard managers can take a well-earned break after the harvest hullabaloo, happy in the knowledge the wines are safely in the tank.

Fancy working with your mum? Rebecca Gibb talks to some Kiwi winemakers who are keeping it all in the family.

The New Zealand wine industry should be proud of its achievements.

"Pinot noir is not easy to make.It's a bitch." It's a blunt opening line from Marlborough winemaker Matt Thomson.

Remember to buy a card one lunchtime this week, as it's Mother's Day next Sunday. Florists will become bouquet factories and you should probably take your dear old mum out for lunch: Burger Fuel and Subway won't cut the mustard.

It's Easter, which means it's time for wine columnists to write another article about wines that go with chocolate. Yawn.

A road trip to try some of our rarer wines is a treat more tempting than chocolate eggs.

A hush descends over the table. A small group of wine enthusiasts watch with due reverence as the cork is gently pulled from the 1968 bottle of French first growth Chateau Haut Brion.

China is getting a taste for fine red wine: five Bordeaux chateaux have been bought by Chinese firms in the past year.

Viva chats to winemaker Axelle Araud of Moet & Chandon.

Is it worth paying a premium for wines from a "good year" or should we stick to the labels?

With an annual output of around only 150,000 bottles, Champagne Dumangin is probably not on your wine radar. It's not exactly in your face, clamouring for attention. Not yet.

Advertising restrictions mean media promotion of New Zealand wines is sometimes left a little wanting.

An obsession among "new world" wine producers is to compare their wines to their European equivalents. Around the winemaking fraternity, you hear producers comparing their sauvignon blancs to the Loire. Cobblers, I say.

Most New Zealand wineries believe they will be profitable in 10 years' time despite the "tough times ahead", a wine industry survey reveals.

Ewan McDonald finds not all good US fruit of the vine comes from Napa.

The art of wine-tasting requires the use of all of your faculties.

Do wines taste better drunk from a glass while meandering among the vines from which the grapes were grown? I think so, but then I am hopelessly sentimental.

The media attention surrounding Prince William's trip to Christchurch and Greymouth was almost as big as the circus over pint-sized pop star Justin Bieber's New Zealand tour.

Our wine industry is a young one by world standards - but does it matter how well our bottles age?

"If champagne speaks of celebration, then port speaks of relaxation."