Oregon – from your own correspondent

As your Pacific Northwest specialist, I strive to be objective. But when asked for a personal account of Oregon’s wine industry, objectivity isn’t part of the picture. I would not be in wine if it weren’t for this state, and I wouldn’t be in this state if it weren’t for wine.

While I was born in the Pacific Northwest, I grew up in Colorado. By the time I returned for a job in finance, the long, rainy winters in Portland thoroughly depressed me. Or maybe it was finance that depressed me. Either...