Playing professional sport is quite often about standards and being able to live up to them consistently.

University of Auckland staff conditions are not under threat.

First the good news: Auckland have had a champion limited-overs cricket season.

Still they come. Men and women with vision, courage, zeal and determination. They dream.

When wanting to impress visiting overseas wine buffs, I have trusty favourites that I pluck from the cellar and open with a good deal of confidence.

Wine writer John Hawkesby takes a look back over a year of sipping to come up with his 12 best bottles.

If you donned a "Jesus drinks riesling" T-shirt in the normal world, most people would think you were one sandwich short of a picnic, but among other riesling freaks it doesn't make the grade.

Most people are in for a great summer weekend with high air pressure over the North Island and an advancing front in the South Island.

Recent wild growing conditions are posing challenges for winemakers across the globe.

While summer continues to roll on, the fashionable tipple should still be rosé. No one is quite sure what is behind the rise and rise of this previously lowly ranked style, but it's popping up all over the place.

We are not being surrounded by aliens from outer space after all, but by PVC monsters.