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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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teutonicwinephoto

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.

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Fancy Pants!

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Fancy Pinot

Why, thank you. They are for special occasions only. I'm not allowed to wear them to school. The new Love & Squalor wines were named after a favorite pair of madras trousers that I had as a kid. The first ever Love & Squalor 'reserve' wines are now available to our most devoted followers. Two wines were bottled; a primarily native yeast selection of dry (very dry) Riesling and a 1.5 barrel selection of the richer Pinots in the cellar. Both are very limited releases - 60 cases and 30 cases were bottled.

The wines are featured at select restaurants in Seattle and Portland - RN74, Marche Seattle, Wild Ginger, Wildwood and Metrovino. Look for them there or order them direct through me. Prices and tasting notes are up on the 'wines' and 'order' pages of this site. Go ahead and try on your Fancy Pants this weekend.

Update March 2012

The long sleep of Winter is coming to an end. We sacrificed our one hour to the hands of time and now we sit down to eat dinner with the skies still bright and filled with birds. In the cellar the wines are maturing. The new Pinot is ticking through malolactic fermentation - rounding out its rough edges and developing into full-bodied wine. The Riesling is dropping its cloudiness and waiting to be divided into blends - some for the kegs, some for the the Willamette Valley blend and a bit for the Fancy Pants. And, of course, there are the barrels of 2010 Pinot - racked and ready for the bottle.

The current releases are dwindling in the warehouse. The 2010 Riesling is still available on a few shelves and lists. The last bottles are being poured by the glass at The Heathman, The Ringside Fish House and Jade Cafe in Sellwood. The 2009 Pinot is on by the glass at Wildwood restaurant and remains on the at a few other restaurants and groceries in Portland and Seattle. I am excited to be shipping some cases up to Calgary for the first time for inclusion on the opening list at Jackie and Kirk's new restaurant "Avec."

Fancy Pants Pinot and Riesling are in slow release (and extremely limited in quantity). Look for a newsletter soon with more ordering info on these wines. And lastly, Behemoth, the beast, is available by the glass at Metrovino and Park Kitchen in Portland and most of the close-in New Seasons, Whole Foods and Fred Meyer stores.

The summer is starting to fill up with vinous and gastronomical events. I will be pouring for five courses at Plate & Pitchfork with Gruner and St. Jack in July. Sadly (for you), the night sold out in 24 hours. Save May 6th, Noble Rot's 10-year Anniversary, as that is going to be a great party. Stay tuned as other chances to hang out and drink with me are announced.

Lastly, links to some recent mentions in local and national pubs.

Good Stuff NW (wherein your winemaker butchers a half of a pig)

Travel and Leisure (wherein Kir Wine Bar is picked as one of the nation's top)

WineJulia (who really likes Fancy Pants Riesling paired with spicy Thai food)

Thanksgiving Open House

Ah, Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday. Food and drink and an excuse to sit for hours with family and friends. 2011 was the latest grape harvest in my career - Pinot noir was still out hanging on the vines into the beginning of November - and there is still lots of work to be done in the winery. So I welcome even more heartily the excuse to sit and catch up and eat and laugh. The fermenting wine can wait one more day.

Please join Love & Squalor and my four winery-mates for the first tasting at our brand new winery in downtown McMinnville. We will be popping corks and slinging adjectives from 11-4pm, Friday, Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Matello, Love & Squalor, Bow & Arrow, Ribera Vineyard and Vista Hills Vineyards Five wineries for $10 November 25, 26 and 27 925 N.E. Seventh Avenue, McMinnville (corner of NE 7th and Alpine, across from the Saturday Market) Phone: (503)453-9505

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"Really Tasty"

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Wine Enthusiast Magazine

91 points

love & squalor 2009 Riesling (Willamette Valley)

Biodynamically-farmed, old vine fruit from the Eola Hills vineyard is the source. The wine is forward and tangy, with a Vouvray-like sweet/sour character. It could be Chenin Blanc, only just a bit lighter, but with the same tart and tasty mix of acid and sugar, with lemony fruit and floral highlights. Really tasty.  — 

Paul Gregutt

Published 10/1/2011

Link to the original web page

here