Premium summer big reads: Inside the world of fake wines

Could you tell the difference between a top bottle of wine and the "fake"? Photo / Getty Images

The New Zealand Herald is bringing back some of the best stories of 2019 from our premium international syndicators, including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Times of London and Harvard Business Review.

Merry Christmas. In between opening presents eating Christma pies have a read about 'fake' wines, a family sailing around the world, the little known jungle prince, the nicest man in Hollywood and how Warren Buffett is having the time of his life.

Inside the high-tech world of replica wines

A $120 bottle of finest pinot noir and a $30 'fake'. Could two Michelin-star chefs and top sommeliers taste the difference?

The makers of 'molecular' wines and spirits say they can reproduce almost any high-priced bottle on the market, and then sell it for a fraction of the cost.

Rhys Blakely of The Times reports. Plus the wine critic's taste test.

Not everyone has warmed to the idea of replicating wines. Photo / Getty Images

Ahoy there, mummy! Family sails around world on YouTube

They met in Greece: locking eyes across the town square, both in their 20s then. When he told her had a boat, she thought it was a pickup line.

Six years later, they have a baby, a catamaran and have also become YouTube stars.

Penelope Green of The New York Times shares the story of how they got there.

Riley Whitelum tosses Lenny gingerly into the air, as Elayna Carausu looks on, aboard La Vagabonde. Photo / Karsten Moran. The New York Times

The jungle prince of Delhi

For 40 years, journalists chronicled the eccentric royal family of Oudh, deposed aristocrats who lived in a ruined palace in the Indian capital. It was a tragic, astonishing story. But was it true?

Ellen Barry of The New York Times is invited inside the palace and unravels the bizarre story of the family.

Prince Cyrus of Oudh at his family home in New Delhi in 2016. Photo / Andrea Bruce, The New York Times

This Tom Hanks story will help you feel less bad

Tom Hanks is as nice as you think he is and exactly what you hope him to be, which is great unless you are someone trying to tell a good story about him.

That's the challenge New York Times reporter Taffy Brodesser-Akner herself facing as she sat down with the star.

Maybe this could just be a story that makes you feel better?

Tom Hanks is playing Mister Rogers in a new movie and is just as nice as you think he is. Photo / Daniel Dorsa, The New York Times

Warren Buffett: 'I'm having more fun than any 88-year-old in the world'

Warren Buffett, the third-richest man in the world with an estimated worth of $86 billion, says he stays at the helm of his company because he wants to keep doing what he has loved since buying his first shares at age 11.

"Why do I get up every day and jump out of bed and I'm excited at 88? It's because I love what I do and love the people I do it with."

The Financial Times speaks to the legendary investor about luck, expectations and finding value in an overheated market.

Even at the age of 88, Warren Buffett is underplaying his ambitions. Photo / Getty Images