Tannin, malolactic, cuvée, brut, lees… wine has a language all its own. Here’s a plain-English glossary of the terms worth knowing — grouped by where you’ll meet them. KWWritten & edited by Ken Wytsma, Wine History ToursWillamette Valley wine-tour hosts Wine talk can feel like a secret code. But most of the vocabulary falls into
Winemaking Terms and Their Meaning Read More »
A History of Wine Tasting Wine tasting has been around as long as the history of wine itself. While tasting is an obvious part of wine drinking, the specific practice of wine tasting as a group or for purposes of evaluation and critique has developed in various ways throughout history. Below we will look at
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An Ice Age flood, iron-rich volcanic soil, and the people who lived here for millennia — the deep history beneath Oregon’s wine country.
Willamette Valley: The Early History Read More »
To travel for wine is to travel through history. From monk-built terraces to volcanic coasts, these are the destinations where the story of the vine is written most vividly into the land. KWReviewed & edited by Ken Wytsma · Fact-checked June 2026Researched and fact-checked against independent sources, with AI assistance.✓ Verified Wine is never only
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For the ancient Greeks, how you drank wine was a test of whether you were civilized at all. And when they sailed west, they carried the vine with them — planting the seed of French wine, and everything that followed. KWReviewed & edited by Ken Wytsma · Fact-checked June 2026Researched and fact-checked against independent sources,
The Wine Culture of Ancient Greece Read More »
The Rhône is one of the oldest and most soulful wine regions in France — a single great river that grows two utterly different wines, planted first by the Greeks and perfected by everyone since. KWReviewed & edited by Ken Wytsma · Fact-checked June 2026Researched and fact-checked against independent sources, with AI assistance.✓ Verified Follow
How a thirteen-year ban dismantled American winemaking — and how a sacramental exemption, a handful of stubborn wineries, and a block of dried grapes kept it alive.
Prohibition and the Fall of American Wine Read More »
From a single 1961 planting to more than 1,100 wineries — the underdog story of how Oregon became a benchmark Pinot Noir region.
The History of Oregon Wine Read More »