Thank you for reading the first sentence of unquestionably the least engaging part of this literary accumulation; the column I write. Some would argue the editor deserves combat pay for initially enduring my original work as he tests his skills on trying to make sense out of what I write. It’s a clever strategy of mine. If you like this column, it’s my unaltered original content and style. If you find it boring, incorrect or stupid, it’s probably also my original content and style

Now that you have exhaustively ingested the well–put, concise and worthwhile content heretofore expressed (oh, how lawyerly), you have reached the Winepress Northwest cure for insomnia. As usual, I will try to fly below the editor’s radar as to saucy content, but when you read about our next guest, Cabernet Franc, you will agree that this often-thought less powerful opponent to other red wine counterparts is a real stud. If you look in my last edition’s infliction of literary punishment, I noted that Cabernet Sauvignon was the muscular offspring of Cabernet Franc. Well, get this: Cabernet Franc is also the Casanova (or

Again you arrive at the last substantive page of Wine Press that will ultimately result in floccinaucinihilipilification. This word will come to describe your critique of what you are about to read. I’ll save you and the editor(s) the keystrokes on Google; it means you will likely find this column worthless. What you are about to be subjected to, if you foolishly wish to continue, is only my opinion and a few minor points of plagiarism. So forget anything you want but do remember two words; Sauvignon Blanc. With the goal of brevity by way of acronyms, SB has been a most

Welcome to the back of the bus. Congrats on having read everything worthwhile before this edition of Wine Press goes to the recycling pile; Or maybe it’s grave will be a physician’s waiting room where it will sit for a few years before composting, in situ. Wherever it goes, I do hope, assuming you have gotten this far into this column, you will remember one long word, Gewurztraminer. In some very unimportant ways, I am consistent. I like strong flavors; Jalapenos and Sriracha are what I call breakfast. Richly flavored spirits like single malt scotch and cask–strength Bourbon are my coffee

This edition of Coke circumlocution, a somewhat harmless act of narcissism, addresses a grape variety deeply integrated into the northwest of the USA and the southwest of Canada; the much maligned, often criticized, however staple-for-us-up-this-way, Merlot. Merlot has gone from being an obscure blending variety to a significant economic factor in Rogue Valley AVA of Oregon and the Idaho wine business. It’s the second most planted red variety in Washington and by far the most planted red in British Columbia. Old guys love to tell old guy stories, sometimes as a thinly disguised attempt to compel respect: we love respect, however