New Releases: Get Them Here First!

I am very pleased to announce the pre-release offering of the new Love & Squalor wines. You can order them via eMail at buywine@loveandsqualorwine.com. I will be pouring these beauties this coming Memorial Day weekend at Brooks Winery in Amity (just south of McMinnville). Please come and say hello between sips.

The 2009 Eola Hills Riesling is drinking great, even in its youth. It is a bit drier than previous vintages but still shows forward apple and citrus fruits, a tropicality in the mid-palate and  a long wet finish. $18/bottle.

2008 was a banner year for Oregon Pinot, and the Love & Squalor 2008 Pinot noir bottling is surely taking part in that parade. Floral and forest notes lead into a dark and rich beginning. The middle spreads wide across the tongue, coating with cherry, black tea and finishes with bright complexity. This is my finest effort yet and I hope you will agree. $24/bottle.

As always, I will extend a 10% discount on orders of 6 or more bottles. I also have a bargain four-pack  - 2 Riesling + 2 Pinot for only $80 + shipping. Or try the six-pack deal - 3 Riesling + 3 Pinot for only $110 + shipping. Please see last year's order form on this blog for more clarification. 2009/2010 L&S Order Form

Thank you for your continued enjoyment of Love & Squalor. May we have the opportunity to toast together soon.

Cheers-

Matt

It's In The Bottle

14093_106386816058519_100000616023683_112068_2369188_s

Here are are Frank and Stephen packing cases on the bottling truck. Weather be damned, we managed to get all of the Love & Squalor wines into their final homes. Now they will rest up after their tiring journey and come to your table fresh and ready to drink with your meal.

The 2009 Willamette Valley Riesling $18 (200 cases) is once again 100% sourced from the Brooks' Eola Hills Vineyard - old-vine and biodynamic. This year sees a return to a more minerally wine, bracketed with tropical fruits and varietaly typical apple and citrus. It is a bit drier than previous years but is still packed with plenty of fruit.

2008 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir $24 (175 cases). Wow! The '08 vintage is a doozy. This wine is sourced from Temperance Hill, Winter's Hill and Left Coast Vineyards. The wine is brimming with dark cherry and bramble with a delicate floral overtone. A real mouth-filler, the fine tannins coat and the gentle acid carries the finish to a long linger.

As usual, I will send out a formal release invitation, but the wines are available for pre-order now. Just get in touch with me.

Thanks to the hard-working bottling crew, the timely label printers and cork makers, and, especially, to Chris Williams and Janie Brooks-Heuck at Brooks Wines

And Now A Super Exciting Video of Two Nice Guys Tasting Riesling

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQVCkwspWLs&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1] Feel the love . . .

Aquariva Restaurant Hosts Love & Squalor

Chef Andy Arndt and the friendly crew at Aquariva (at the Avalon Hotel on Macadam) are hosting me for a casual tasting tomorrow, Wednesday, starting at 5pm. If you've never checked out this spot, this is a nice opportunity. It's a beautiful room on a quiet stretch of the Willamette. The kitchen is focused on regional Italian dishes and locally sourced ingredients. Chef Arndt does a daily fresh sheet complete with wine pairings. Hope you can make it.

Love & Squalor In Print!

The 2006 Love & Squalor Pinot noir (the maiden vintage) is one of only nine Oregon wines featured in Robert Parker's new book - Parker's Wine Bargains; The World's Best Wine Values Under $25. While we may not always agree with the world's most valuable tongue, we think this inclusion was a very smart choice. The wine is listed as a product of Ransom Wine Company as this was before the Portland Wine Company was established. While the '06 is long gone, and the '07 has just left the building, the 2008 Pinot is just finishing its journey to the bottle. The final blend (Temperance, Winter's Hill and Left Coast Vineyards) is marrying and will be bottled at the end of this month. Expect an early summer release. The price will be a bargain as always - the same price Parker paid for his taste of the '06 - $24

wine_bargains_small

Come to the Table (and bring some Damn Riesling!)

Thanks to Sally Summerson for the lovely write-up on her blog: Come to the Table. She may not know heaps about wine, but she knows how to pay a lovely complement. Check it out here. I'll update more soon - promise.

Free Tasting This Weekend

I'll be pouring both my wines this Saturday at the Raleigh Hills New Seasons (7300 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy). 2-5pm and FREE!! Hope to see you there.

Love & Squalor in the Press

Love & Squalor 2008 Riesling was featured in yesterday's 'Celebrate Oregon Wine' Oregonian pull-out section. It was one of six wines chosen to pair with your Thanksgiving turkey. Both Jeff Moore (Wildwood) and Stefan Hansen (Sel Gris) recommended it. "This is Matt Berson's third vintage and a wonderful example of what ...Oregon riesling can be. . . . I love the versatility of this wine - it's a perfect balance of fruit and acidity". Read the whole article here.

This is What it Looks Like . . .

. . . when we turn grapes into wine

9919_1250517148262_1389499671_742982_6971909_n

Temperance Hill Pinot noir coming out of the destemmer

Say It Isn't Sew

Chris Sewing

Harvest really does call on a wide variety of skill sets. You just never know what trick you might have to pull out of your hat, as this photograph illustrates.

Here Comes The Riesling

10/22/2009

Well, so much for regular updates and posts. We've been up to our necks in ripe Pinot noir grapes, and haven't had the time, nor the unsticky hands, to type. The 2009 Harvest is good. The late heat and brief rainless window led to a spike in ripeness and a quick scramble to pick everything before the weather went to crap. I don't know that it will be a classic vintage, but the sugars are nice (if a bit high) and the flavors seem deep so far. We (Brooks and Love & Squalor) brought in about 100 tons of freshly picked grapes in the span of 4 and a half days. Needless to say, we didn't get a lot of sleep. We did let a little bit hang through the rains, and it still looked good coming in, although not necessarily better than the earlier pick.

Now we're in a punchdown holding pattern. Managing all of the fermentations and enjoying the aromas and textures of juice turning into wine. You are welcome to swing by the winery and experience this yourself, but be forewarned, you may be pressed into labor.

Tomorrow, as this post's headline alludes, is the first of two big Riesling days. We've got the press nicely cleaned and are ready to receive Riesling from four sites, including the newly purchased Brooks Eola Estate Vineyard (formerly Eola Hills Vnyd) some of which will become the 2009 Love & Squalor Riesling. We'll be running the press nonstop to capture all that delicious nectar so we can put some fresh and pure wine on your tables. Prost!

Sticky & Sweet

It was a slow run-up to Harvest this year, a lot of hurry up and wait, but now it is on in full. The grapes are bursting with sugar and the flavors are as layered as they probably will get. We'll let a little bit hang a few days longer just to see what happens, but the rest of the Pinot is pouring into the winery in a deluge of white half-ton totes. The crew (all four of us!) has started working some crazy-long days just to get all of those clusters through the sorting line, into the destemmer and on its way to vinification. Today's 17 hours of sorting and stacking was fueled by Heather's crock-pot pot roast, local (Heater Allen) lagers, and a killer party hip-hop set list by our own (Big) Chris Williams. The result was a winery bursting with full-to-the-brim fermenters and fresh fruit smells. No telling what tomorrow's theme will be, but it's sure to be filled with sticky & sweet times and the birth of some mighty fine wine.

As The Grapes Ripen

Sunny Mountain Vineyard on Rattlesnake Ridge outside of Monroe, Oregon. 10 beautiful acres of Pinot noir.

Tracey came all the way from Richmond Virginia to run our pressure washer. Here she is at Echo Hill Vineyard in North Plains.

Harvest starts for real on Monday. We're bringing in some early Muscat and a couple tons of Pinot from the lovely Sunny Mt. site. Here's to getting sticky!

2009 Order Form

2009 L&S Order Form I haven't quite sorted out uploading things to my blog. This should link you to an order form that you can use to get your Love & Squalor. You can print and mail it if you like, or you can peruse the offerings and zip me an eMail wih your vinous desires.

New Love & Squalor Wines . . . Now Available

Matt Berson & Portland Wine Company present the latest wines from Love & Squalor These wines were created from organically grown grapes in small lots with the most natural approach possible. Your enjoyment of them at your table has been their ultimate purpose from the first glimmer. Cellar them, give them as gifts, drink them tonight with those you love.

2008 Riesling, Willamette Valley, Eola Hills Vineyard. (115 Cases Produced) $18 A zingy mouthful of minerality, tropical fruit and citrus peel. This is a modern, off-dry Riesling with a nod to the German tradition. Great with Asian feasts and Northern European classics.

2007 Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Temperance Hill and Willakia Vineyards (175 Cases Produced) $24 Bright red cherry fruit opens up to notes of black tea, earth and spices. A medium-bodied wine with a nice long finish. Enjoy with classic Pinot dishes like salmon and pork.

A healthy 10% discount will be applied to orders of 6 or more bottles. Please note that there are limited quantities of these wines, so get your wine request in soon. Get in touch with me and I will contact you with your total including shipping. Delivery or pickup will gladly be arranged for local wine lovers.

Cheers!

Matt

p.s. Please forward this to anyone you think might be interested.

Welcome to my new blog

No, I'm not going to be slogging my way through some old cookbook, nor am I going to post a daily picture of my drooly baby. What I am going to do is keep you up to date on my winemaking shenanigans with the occasional rant and ramble about whatever is on my mind. I hope you enjoy reading my words. If you haven't seen my earlier blog about my previous life as a traveling cellar rat, you can find it at surlie.blogspot.com.

Cheers!