I've recently started taking a more serious approach to wine tasting and have started taking more extensive notes when I do. Any ideas for keeping my notes organized? And any tips for not seeming too obsessively geeky when I'm in the tasting room or at a restaurant?

While wine touring recently in Southern Oregon, I encountered wines made from the Tempranillo grape for the first time and was told it originated in Spain. How did it end up in the Northwest?

Question: I know that British Columbia has been growing many of the classic wine grape varieties for a couple decades now but have never understood how they get the grapes to ripen there. Often I read that Oregon has trouble getting its Pinot Noir ripe, so how do they manage it in B.C.?

Why do winemakers use oak barrels to age wine? And why is oak the preferred wood?

In the past few years I've noticed several varieties of wines with names I'd never heard of - Siegerrebe, Kerner, Ortega and Ehrenfelser, to name a few - are being produced in our region's wineries. Why and where do they come from?

During my visits to wineries, I regularly hear or read about "gravity fed" being used during the winemaking process. What's it all about?

Should I store my Port wines differently than my other wines? I have a temperature-controlled wine cabinet but have not seen any information on whether Port should be stored differently to allow it to age properly. And at what temperature should it be stored?

Q. I have several bottles of red wine that are about 20 years old and am concerned about holding them too long. Is it time to drink them? Or can I expect them to last a bit longer?

Q. After my father passed away in 1998, my brothers and I split up his wine cellar with help from friends who claimed that they "know wine." While I have been enjoying many of the French wines that made up the majority of my father's collection, I do have several bottles of a Hinzerling 1982 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. It seems my father bought several cases of this, so my brothers and I each have a full case. Unfortunately, I cannot locate any information about this wine. I'd like to donate it to a local nonprofit for an auction/dinner, but I'd like to know if this is a "good" wine. Do you know anything about this label?

Q. Some friends and I are interested in starting a wine tasting group as a way to learn more about wine. Can you give us some suggestions about how to proceed?

Q. How do wine judges manage to sample scores of wines during a major tasting and come away with their palates still functioning? Can they really taste much of anything at the end of several hours of evaluating wines?

No matter the restaurants I go to, I routinely seem to find the markups range from 150 percent to 300 percent of grocery store retail prices. In your December 2001 column in Wine Press Northwest, you suggested a "general rule of thumb is to expect to pay about 50 percent more than at the grocery store." I sure wish I knew where you were dining.

Q. I wonder if you can advise me how I might remove a cork that appears to be firmly stuck in my bottle of Warre's 1958 Port.

Q. The movie Sideways set me to wondering. Is it really that hard to make good Pinot Noir wines? And if that's so, why is so much of Oregon known for its Pinot Noir?

Q. In the past couple years, I've noticed more Northwest wineries are producing port-style wines. But they seem to vary widely in type, style and even in the grape varieties used. Why so much variation?

Q. What does the French term "terroir" really mean? And how is it really pronounced?

Q. What makes the difference between a $50 wine and a $10 wine? Costs of grapes, barrels or what?

Q. My spouse and I often open a nice bottle of wine and drink only about half of it. Once it’s open, what’s the best way to preserve the leftovers?

Q. What's an appropriate way to take young children wine touring?

Q. What’s the difference between Chablis and chardonnay?

Q. Can you explain "corkage" and the thinking behind the fees that are charged? What's a fair amount to expect to pay?

Q. For years, I had read that virtually all classic wine grapes are based on unchanging rootstock, with each plant simply a clone of its predecessor. Now I'm told each grape variety has varying clones, which can be an important factor in making fine wine. What happened?

Q. I frequently used to see titles used on American wines that were the same as many of those used in France, such as Chablis, Champagne and Burgundy. In recent years, they've mostly disappeared. Why?

Q. I've frequently seen someone swirl a wine, peer at the glass, then say something like, "Look at those legs." What does the comment mean? What can you learn from looking at those legs?

Q. I'd like to know more about wine and port storage: temperature, time considerations, upright or on side and other aspects I might not have considered. My primary concern is storage of ports.