Jan 7, 2022
I don’t remember the last time I saw the sun. Surely it peeked through the slate grey Oregon sky at some point in the past four weeks, but honestly, it couldn’t have been for an hour or two. Before we moved to the Willamette Valley, we were warned of the winters. We were warned particularly good and hard by our friends who lived here and understood we were coming from Napa Valley where it rains and is grey in the…
Jul 21, 2021
I think it must be clear to anyone to cares to take notice that today there is a far greater abundance of wine-related media at our disposal than at any previous time. I’m not talking about wine-related tweets and posts as these generally are devoid of any real substance or are links to or comments upon wine-related stories published elsewhere. I’m talking about the plethora of wine media offered up in the form of wine publications, wine blogs, podcasts, newspapers…
Jun 3, 2021
“Five Days After Attack, Andy Ngo Releases Statement Confirming He Was Chased and Beaten in Portland” “‘It’s frightened people away’: Downtown Portland hotels slow to recover due to pandemic, reputation” “Demonstrations in Portland | The Official Guide to Portland—TRAVEL PORTLAND” “Majority of downtown Portland merchants say city core is unsafe” “Downtown in distress: Portland’s core is unsafe and uninviting, residents say in new poll, threatening city’s recovery” “Why Portland’s Homeless Problem Is The Worst In The Nation” If you are…
Apr 12, 2021
Proponents of increasing the State of Oregon’s alcohol taxes in a comically excessive way are becoming more creative and more faithless in their arguments for increasing the state taxes in an effort to fight alcohol dependency. As a reminder, earlier in the year Oregon State Representatives Tawna Sanchez sponsored House Bill 3296. If passed, the bill would have increased the excise taxes on beer and cider in Oregon from $2.60 per barrel (31 gallons) to $72.60 per barrel. The increase…
Mar 1, 2021
Proposing to raise the tax on beer and cider by 2,700% and raising it on wine by 1,500% (YES…between 2,700% and 1,500%!) is in and of itself comical. But it’s not a comically bad miscalculation by the sponsors of an Oregon bill that would do just this. It is the political equivalent of virtue signaling: Attempting to get credit for taking a strong position on, and making a bold proposal to address, an issue when there is little to no…