COVER STORY WRITTEN BY LYNDA V. MAPES PHOTOGRAPHED BY BARRY WONG
ON THE COVER: By the blue-gray light of dawn, Marcelino Guizar maneuvers his tractor to haul out a load of merlot grapes handpicked by the workers behind him at Pepper Bridge Winery's Seven Hills Vineyard near Walla Walla.

PLANT LIFE Sheer Volumes Timber Press has created a must-have plant encyclopedia named "Flora." NORTHWEST LIVING Everything In Place The Okanagan Valley's Mission Hill Winery was made for wine touring. LETTERS Letters to the editor

TASTE The Unpairables Sometimes it takes a matchmaker to marry wines to certain tastes. Case Studies Thirty-six bottles' worth of stars, surprises and bargains. NOW & THEN The Path of Progress