In today's world, red wines get most of the ink. They are sexy, they generally fetch higher prices, and they create more buzz among "serious" wine lovers.

When Craig and Vicki Leuthold opened Maryhill Winery in 2001, they did so with 4,300 cases from the 1999 vintage. The wines were delicious, but the Leutholds had something grand in mind.

Who says Cougars and Huskies can't get along? The cross-state rivals do just fine at Steppe Cellars, our 2009 Washington Winery to Watch.

In the past few years, some of the Northwest's most famous wineries successfully transitioned their winemaking duties from one generation to the next.

Even a marketing genius might scoff at the notion of labeling Stephen Reustle's second career as "divine intervention."

The wine world is filled with lots of stories about wineries that got their start when a hobby went out of control. However, few home winemakers are so obsessed that they buy and plant their own vineyards. Even fewer - and likely none - plant three vineyards just to get the grapes they want to feed their hobby.

When Kim Pullen bought the former Victoria Estate Winery in 2004, much of the former tax lawyer's new business seemed in good order.

Ron Bitner admits wine was the furthest thing from his mind when he purchased the acreage in 1980 for his home near Caldwell, Idaho.

Melanie Krause and the debut of her Cinder project turned some Rhône varieties into gold dust last year.

Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grab a lot of the headlines with red wine lovers, while four other Bordeaux varieties often act as little more than backup singers to these two stars.

Opening a favorite bottle of wine in the company of friends isn't an experience many Northwest wine lovers are giving up as concerns about the struggling economy continue to mount.

Walk into the Seattle home of Rob Dent and Naomi Ruiz and if you don't look carefully at the floor in the foyer, you might miss the trapdoor under your feet.

Salem is a city of growth.

GIG HARBOR, Wash. - When you buy a high-end bottle of wine, you are usually paying for the expertly crafted liquid inside the vessel.

The Spokane region wineries are a small, tight-knit group. Many are downtown, and it is a wine community where prices haven't gone though the roof.

A growing number of us are stuck between wanting to feed our economy, i.e. spending, and trying to save as much as we can in fear of getting that fateful instruction to visit the office of the Evil H.R. Director.

The universal truth is such that we're all looking for that perfect match. Whether you're a man, woman or lobster, life is about test-driving enough potentials to eventually find that perfect match. And, often, on our journey, we invoke the power of wine to help us reach just a little bit further. We drink in pursuit of Mr. Right - and we drink even more in pursuit of Mr. Right Now.

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.?

As winter recedes, Northwest cooks welcome the serenity of spring and the fresh, delicate foods it brings. We celebrate the arrival of baby new potatoes and greens, seasonal celebrations with lamb as the centerpiece, the first catches of salmon and halibut and the appearance of the first rhubarb and strawberries.

A friend got a bottle of the Maryhill Winery 2005 Malbec recently, and learned that the wine had earned a Platinum medal at the annual taste-off we do at Wine Press Northwest.

It's been a heady 12 months for longtime Oregon winery Ponzi Vineyards with a new state-of-the-art facility, being chosen as Wine Press Northwest's 2009 Oregon Winery of the Year and its wine being served at President Barack Obama's inauguration.

It is said that desperate times call for desperate measures. But the current economic crisis has spurred one Washington wine lover to get creative. In fact, if you have a bottle of wine, he'll drink it for you - for a price.

Considering how opinionated wine lovers tend to be, we actually receive very few letters to the editor.

Okanagan Wine: A Guide to Valley Wines, by Julianna Hayes, Okanagan Valley Newspaper Group, 2008, $10 Canadian

There's no longer the need to finish that bottle of Argyle Brut in one night because the folks at Pek Preservation Systems have done it again.

Here are the red wines reviewed in our Recent Releases section of the Spring 2009 issue of Wine Press Northwest. Wines are categorized by variety and style.

Here are the white wines reviewed in our Recent Releases section of the Spring 2009 issue of Wine Press Northwest. Wines are categorized by variety and style.

Here are the Best Buy wines ($15 and under) reviewed in our Recent Releases section of the Spring 2009 issue of Wine Press Northwest.