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Best 100 wines of 2016 says Wine Enthusiast. Guess who’s #53?!

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#53

Love & Squalor 2013 Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley)


93 Points Editors’ Choice

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A sensational value, this is a Pinot lover's wine, beginning with the gorgeous color of a deep red/orange sunset. Cherries, chocolate, and a light touch of orange peel elevate the aromatics and inform the well-integrated midpalate. The wine lingers gracefully through an immaculate finish.

You can buy the wine online here (click)

The article can be seen here: http://www.winemag.com/toplists/top-100-wines-2016/

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WHAT?! A Rosé of Gewürztraminer? Here's a nice review...

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Great Northwest Wines review of Love & Squalor 2015 A Frayed Knot Rosé of Gewürztraminer, Willamette Valley

One of the leaders of Portland’s urban wine scene, Matt Berson, finally has answered the pleas of his peeps and given them a rosé — and he chose 30-year-old Gewürztraminer from prized Sunnyside Vineyard near Oregon’s state capital. Foot-pressed fruit grown by Lucille Wisniewski and Tom Owens produces an intriguing pink that could at first look be mistaken for a Pinot Gris rosé where it not for the tropical nose of lychee, rosewater and kiwi with peach pie and honey. That exotic blend of fruit makes it way to the palate with a dry approach, picking up hints of strawberry and peach skin with a lingering finish that blends pink grapefruit with tangerine. That he tagged this #orangeisthenewrosé bodes well for a 2016 version.

Rating: Excellent
Production: 110 cases
Alcohol: 13%

By Great Northwest Wine on October 1, 201 

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Great Northwest Wines Says We Are "Outstanding"

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Great Northwest Wines latest review on our Love & Squalor 2012 Ansty Pants Riesling, Willamette Valley

You can see it here: http://www.greatnorthwestwine.com/2016/10/18/love-squalor-2012-antsy-pants-riesling-willamette-valley-28/

The Portland Wine Company’s reserve-style dry Riesling continues to focus on four-decade-old Brooks Vineyard in the cooler Eola-Amity Hills, but this vintage debuts an inclusion from Sunnyside Vineyard, an even older site planted in 1971. Matt Berson’s expression from the 2012 vintage continues with the residual sugar at (0.6%), and here there’s a great presentation of acidity. Rich aromas of baked pear with cinnamon, peach pie, apricot glacéed and jasmine lead to luscious flavors of ripe white peach and dried pineapple. It’s fruity, yet capped with a touch of slate for a food-friendly finish.

Rating: Outstanding!
Production: 59 cases
Alcohol: 11%

By Great Northwest Wine on October 18, 2016  

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Portland Magazine's top 50 wines

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Guess who is in the top 50 wines chosen by Portland Monthly Magazine— Check out #33! 
hint: Love & Squalor Riesling

http://www.pdxmonthly.com/articles/2016/9/13/oregon-s-50-best-wines

33. Love & Squalor
2013 Riesling. 
Willamette Valley, $20
Grapefruit zest and crabapple. Mouth-watering acidity that makes your mouth pop. Earthy. Textural and aggressive. Pair with: choucroute garnie

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Here's what Great Northwest Wines says...

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Great Northwest Wines gave our Love & Squalor 2013 Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley a wonderful review.

You can see it here: http://www.greatnorthwestwine.com/2016/09/08/love-squalor-2013-pinot-noir-willamette-valley-28/

"This vintage marks the 10th anniversary of Matt Berson’s introduction to winemaking, and his flagship wine from this rain-interrupted season illustrates a blend of nearly equal contributions from eight vineyards – led by Dundee Hills sites Winter’s Hill and Vista Hills. The choice of essentially all neutral French oak at his McMinnville winery allows for a Pinot Noir to reveal itself as a cherry bomb with secondary aromas of strawberry, plum juice and fresh fig with a pinch of herbs and shaving of dark chocolate. As a drink, it’s eminently approachable with Bing cherry and raspberry flavors that offer ripeness rather than sweetness. That feeds into a smooth and round structure capped by orange zest, Earl Grey tea and cocoa."


Rating: Excellent
Production: 1,100 cases
Alcohol: 12.9% 

By Great Northwest Wine on September 8, 2016 

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New Single Vineyard Riesling and Pinot Noir coming soon!

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SingleVineyardLabels

We just printed new labels for our upcoming single vineyard bottling. We will be bottling a Sunnyside Vineyard 2014 Riesling, a Sunny Mountain 2014 Pinot Noir and a Temperance Hill 2014 Pinot Noir. We are only bottling 25 cases of each to be released with our Club Membership shipments this Fall. What's left over will be available on our site for purchase. Join our Wine Club by emailing us to get in on the fun!

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WINE ENTHUSIAST REVIEWS ARE IN!

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Fine winemaking is on display here...

— Paul Gregutt Wine Enthusiast June 2016

love & squalor WV Riesling 2013 - 93 Points - Editor's Choice
This packs tremendous flavor into a low-alcohol wine with moderate residual sugar. Peach pit and juice, green apple and citrusy acids start it off. The flavors keep going through a long, complex finish, adding subtle notes of herb and cut grass.

love & squalor Antsy Pants Riesling 2011 - 92 Points
Ignore the silly name and focus on the important particulars—old vine (planted 1976), wild yeast, biodynamic farming. Absolutely bone-dry yet bursting with complex minerality, citrus rind, and penetrating acidity, it has phenolics that give length, breadth and detail.

love & squalor WV Pinot Noir 2012 - 91 Points - Editor's Choice
Fine winemaking is on display here, as the blend includes grapes from six far-flung vineyards. It’s artfully melded, with brambly berries, Bing cherries, cola, cocoa and red licorice notes. Seamless and buttressed with natural acids, it’s not at all reliant on barrel flavors, having seen just 6% once-filled oak, with the rest neutral.

love & squalor Antsy Pants Pinot Noir 2011 - 91 Points
The proprietary name indicates that this is the winemaker’s reserve cuvée, a three-barrel selection mixing equal proportions of grapes from the Eola Hills, Dundee Hills and Ribbon Ridge AVAs. It’s austere, tight and yet authoritative, showing compact wild berry fruit, Mediterranean herbs and a slight saltiness. It’s best to cellar it until 2020, or give it a good long decant.

Thanks Mr. Gregut 

 

source: http://www.winemag.com/buying-guide/love-squalor-2013-pinot-noir-willamette-valley

 

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Come join us for BBQ oysters and Love & Squalor wines

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SEPT 4th Sunday
1pm to 6pm
Teutonice Wine Company
3303 SE 20th Ave. Portland, OR 97202

Teutonic Wine Company has invited Love & Squalor as their guest winery. This weekend we will be serving BBQ Oysters and lots of L&S wines. Come join us, see Matt at the BBQ and comment on his shucking skillz! No RSVP necessary. We'll be serving food until the food runs out. More info here: https://teutonicwines.com/event/bbq-oysters-with-matt-berson-of-love-squalor/

 

 

 

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WINE & SPIRITS Article featurES Matt!

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From Wine & Spirits Magazine August 2016

Riesling Resurgent
by David Schildknecht

pg 47. "...That Seestedt’s Sunnyside success isn’t some winemaking tour de force is demonstrated not only by his familiar claim to have done as little “making” as possible, but also by the equally vibrant and infectiously juicy 2014 Sunnyside Riesling crafted by Seestedt protégé and former restaurant manager Matt Berson under his Love & Squalor label. Berson, who also works adeptly with the fruit of Richard Cuddihy’s 1971 planting, ferments and raises multiple tiny lots according to di ering protocols, one possible explanation for the satisfying complexity of his results. Another intriguing piece of the Sunnyside puzzle—assuming you’re puzzled that riesling this good comes from a place of which few riesling-lovers have heard—is that the vines are trained with so-called Pendelbogen arches, a method that promotes sap distribution and efficient picking, as well as depresses must weights, which might nowadays be advantageous."

The article can be downloaded here

Thanksgiving Wine Tasting at Jacobsen Salt

COME BUY WINE (and salt and honey and candy—oh my!) We are pouring our wines at Jacobsen Salt on Saturday November 28, 2015 at 11-3pm: http://bit.ly/1OgPsa8 ‪#‎jacobsensalt‬

Come glory at the wonderous tall hair and taste all the L&S wines - including the new Antsy Pants Riesling and the 2015 Premier Gamay Nouveau. The Jacobsen Salt and Bee Local retail shop is hosting L&S for this awesome Small Business Saturday in SE PDX.

And, for an extra $5, you'll get a 3-course, Jacobsen Salt Co. and Bee Local inspired amuse bouche menu to go with our wines.

Jacobsen Salt Retail Store is at 602 SE Salmon Street in Portland, Ore.

 

 

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Join Us at These Summer Events

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SUMMER 2015 Events

(you can join any of these events by clicking on the event name)


Corks & Forks
June 11th
Castaway
Portland  OR

L&S White Wine Dinner
June 29th
Irving Street Kitchen
Portland OR
wines paired with dinner by the amazing Chef Sarah Schafer

Uncommon Wine Festival
July 12th
Vista Hills Vineyard
Dayton OR

International Pinot Noir Celebration
July 24th-26th
Linfield Campus
McMinnville OR

Plate & Pitchfork
August 15th
Sun Gold Farms
Forest Grove OR
with Chef David Sapp and Scott Dolich of Park Kitchen

Feast Portland
September 18th & 19th
Various Locations
Portland OR

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Getting Serious

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My friends Dan and Chas, who host the popular video blog Wine Is Serious Business, invited me to come and taste through my current releases with them and have a conversation about winemaking in Oregon. It was lots of fun and turned out pretty well. Check it out here You can see their archive on YouTube and link to them on Facebook.

 

 

New Varietals on the Horizon

Just when you thought it couldn't get any more exciting - Love & Squalor is introducing more flavors. Last Harvest we brought in some Pinot Gris from the Barnes Vineyard that we have been purchasing Pinot Noir from for some time. We also hooked up with a young vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills that has a block of Sauvignon Blanc - one of my all-time favorite varietals. The vines are young and bursting with intense fruit. Additionally there is a very special old-vine white project sitting in barrel that will likely only produce about 40 cases, so stay tuned for that.

No new reds to introduce yet, but we are hunting for the right addition to our line-up. Let me know what you would like to see . . .

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Oh My, What a Busy July!

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We're very excited to be releasing the new wines next week and have planned a mess of events so you can taste the goodness. NOTE: This dinner has been moved to August 7th. Seats are still available I believe. Next week - -Tuesday night - is the debut of a series of 'Mentor/Mentee Dinners' at Wildwood. The idea, brainchild of Wildwood somm Savanna Ray, is to pair up-and-coming winemakers with the winemaker who gave them their start. This dinner will feature my first wine teacher Patty Green of Patricia Green Cellars, me, and the dynamic duo behind Walter Scott Wines. Lots of wine, delicious foods and some ribald tales I am sure. Call Wildwood for reservations.

7/14 - Pouring New Seasons Raleigh Hills - 2pm 7/15 - Plate & Pitchfork w/St. Jack and Gruner - SOLD OUT 7/20 - Pouring New Seasons Sellwood - 4pm 7/21 - Pouring New Seasons 7 Corners - 4pm 7/28-7/29 - International Pinot Noir Festival (aka wino summer camp)

Stay tuned for more chances to taste Love & Squalor as the summer trips along.

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Spring Has Sprung

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The warehouse is getting emptier and emptier. The blends in the cellar are getting closer to their bottling date. In the meantime there are plenty of opportunities to get out and taste some Love & Squalor. This Friday from 3-6pm I will be pouring at the brand new Zupan's store in Lake Grove. I look forward to surprising the crowds with the Fancy Pants Riesling and other treats.

Next month marks the 10-year anniversary of the original eastside wine spot - Noble Rot. The Rot has been my hang since they opened, long before I was a winemaker. They were the first place to put Love & Squalor on the list and the first to pour it in a flight. I got all sorts of warm fuzzies for them. The Rotten Girls plus Leather are putting together a bash that is open to the public. 11 wineries pouring, mouth-watering snacks, some live tunes. If it is even half as memorable as the first anniversary, well . . . I guess I'll remember some of it.

Hope to see you all out there this Spring.