The Love & Squalor Sunnyside Vineyard Riesling SCORES!

The Sunnyside Vineyard was established near the Salem I-5 corridor in 1971. The site was settled and has been farmed by Tom Owen and Luci Wisniewski since 1980. The block is planted to the Geisenheim Riesling clone 90. It is farmed by hand with multiple passes of leaf thinning and green harvest. The fruiting canes are trained with so-called Pendelbogen arches, and the canopy is permitted to drape down over the clusters, particularly is hot years such as this. The vineyard additionally raises Pinot Noir, Gewürztraminer, Dolcetto and a few other surprises. It is a lovely place.

Riesling is THE varietal that rocked my boat in 2001 when I first tasted its expression from the Oregon soils. I find that white wines, and Riesling in particular, are beautifully transparent in their reflection of the site and the winemaker, in a way that reds can never be - cloaked warmly as they are in their skin contact and their barrel aging. Everything has its place and time. Now is the time for vineyard-specific Oregon Riesling...and here it is!

You can buy it here —>

WINE & Spririts

published August 2021 issue

92 pts. Love & Squalor

2016 Willamette Valley Sunnyside Vineyard Riesling: From a parcel planted in 1971, this wine's scents of lees and lime fruit feel slow to rouse. The wines' texture has an old-vine feel, dry but unctuous, like lime oil, with sneaky acids and a wheat savor to the finish. - P.J.C. (25 cases)

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VINOUS

published sept 2020

91 pts. Love & Squalor 2016 Riesling Sunnyside Vineyard
Willamette Valley, Oregon
White wine from United States
Drinking window: 2020 - 2025

Brilliant straw. Bright and piercing on the nose, displaying an array of fresh citrus fruit and floral scents and a strong mineral topnote. Racy and precise on the palate, offering nervy lemon zest, green apple and bitter quince flavors that very slowly unfurl on the back half. Shows firm cut and mineral lift on a long, penetrating finish that leaves a suave honeysuckle note behind.

Josh Raynolds. Tasting date: March 2020

California Wine Country Blog Shout-out

Love & Squalor Riesling was featured on the popular California Wine Country Blog on the segment called:
Personal Favorites and Competition Winners
Posted on January 24, 2018 by cwcadmin

Love & Squalor is reviewed at the 6:12 mark. 

From the website:
"Recap of Today’s Personal Favorites & Winners...
…Dan opens and talks about an Oregon Riesling. It’s cooler up there and ideal for this grape. The name of the wine is Love and Squalor. It’s from the Portland Wine Company. The fruit is like tangerines. It’s not a traditional Riesling, as it’s quite tart. Dan says that there is a trend toward drier and drier Rieslings. That makes them go well with food, especially spicy Asian cuisine.”

URL to the podcast: http://calwinecountry.com/personal-favorites-competition-winners/

VINOUS REVIEWS ARE STELLAR!

SCORE: 89 POINTS
2013    
LOVE & SQUALOR
RIESLING ANTSY PANTS  (RESERVE)
REVIEW DATE: FEB 2018

Bright straw-yellow. Aromas of citrus pith, quinine and succulent herbs, plus a hint of beeswax in the background. Dry and chewy on the palate, offering bitter pear skin and lemon zest flavors and a gentle suggestion of fennel. Very dry and taut on the finish, which echoes the quinine and lemon notes. -- Josh Raynolds    

SCORE: 92 POINTS
2015    
LOVE & SQUALOR
RIESLING SUNNYSIDE VINEYARD
REVIEW DATE: FEB 2018

Very pale yellow. High-pitched aromas of lime zest, chalky minerals and honeysuckle, along with a spicy ginger topnote. Nervy and sharply focused in style, offering incisive citrus and orchard fruit flavors that deepen steadily through the midpalate. Shows a razor-sharp personality, delivering impressive tension and cut on the persistent finish, which leaves behind bitter grapefruit pith and quinine flourishes. -- Josh Raynolds    

SCORE: 90 POINTS
2015    
LOVE & SQUALOR
RIESLING Willamette Valley
REVIEW DATE: FEB 2018

Light bright yellow. Fresh melon, Meyer lemon and floral scents, along with hints of quinine and fennel. Juicy, focused and light on its feet, offering citrus and orchard fruit flavors that loosen up slowly on the back half. Finishes silky and long, displaying lingering pear nectar and honeysuckle qualities and a snap of tangy acidity. -- Josh Raynolds

Wine Enthusiast Reviews are in... 93pts & Editors Choice

93 points
Editors Choice

L&S 2015 Riesling Willamette Valley 

This utterly delicious dry Riesling has just enough roundness to cut through the acidity. Its lush mix of citrus and stone fruit gathers strength and focus as it roars across the palate. It's instantly accessible yet built for enjoyment over the next decade.

VARIETY Riesling
APPELLATION Willamette Valley, Willamette Valley, Oregon, US
WINERY Love & Squalor
ALCOHOL 12%
DATE PUBLISHED 2/1/2018

Review online: http://www.winemag.com/buying-guide/love-squalor-2015-riesling-willamette-valley/

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92 points

L&S 2013 'Antsy Pants' Reserve Riesling

This 2013 is the current release. Its lovely floral highlights distinguish the aroma and carry into the flavors. Sourced from 40-year-old vines from the Brooks and Sunnyside vineyards, it was fermented entirely with native yeasts to almost complete dryness.

DESIGNATION Antsy Pants
VARIETY Riesling
APPELLATION Willamette Valley, Willamette Valley, Oregon, US
WINERY Love & Squalor
ALCOHOL 11%
DATE PUBLISHED 2/1/2018

Review online: http://www.winemag.com/buying-guide/love-squalor-2013-antsy-pants-riesling-willamette-valley/

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92 points

L&S 2015 Sunny Mountain Vineyard Pinot Noir

This well-balanced wine pushes cherry fruit front and center, underscored by refreshing minerality. The tannins are polished and firmly set on the finish, with a cinnamon kick that resonates long after the last swallow.

DESIGNATION Sunny Mountain Vineyard
VARIETY Pinot Noir
APPELLATION Willamette Valley, Willamette Valley, Oregon, US
WINERY Love & Squalor
ALCOHOL 14.4%
DATE PUBLISHED 2/1/2018

Review online: http://www.winemag.com/buying-guide/love-squalor-2015-sunny-mountain-vineyard-pinot-noir-willamette-valley/

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92 points

L&S 2015 Temperance Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir

This well-known and widely-admired vineyard doesn't disappoint in this wine, delivering lovely cherry fruit touched with a citrusy edge. The concentration builds gracefully, with tasty highlights of chocolate-covered orange peel and roasted coffee.

DESIGNATION Temperance Hill Vineyard
VARIETY Pinot Noir
APPELLATION Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon, US
WINERY Love & Squalor
ALCOHOL 14.2%
DATE PUBLISHED 2/1/2018

Review online: http://www.winemag.com/buying-guide/love-squalor-2015-temperance-hill-vineyard-pinot-noir-eola-amity-hills/

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91 points
Editors Choice

L&S 2015 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

Lovely cherry lollipop flavors introduce this smooth and tasty effort. Its juicy and irresistible sweet fruit is highlighted with sliced orange and lemon peel notes. A streak of coffee runs through the finish, and the wine is substantial enough to cellar for another half decade or longer.

VARIETY Pinot Noir
APPELLATION Willamette Valley, Willamette Valley, Oregon, US
WINERY Love & Squalor
ALCOHOL 13.8%
DATE PUBLISHED 2/1/2018

Review Online: http://www.winemag.com/buying-guide/love-squalor-2015-pinot-noir-willamette-valley/

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91 points

Love & Squalor 2015 Sunnyside Vineyard Riesling  

The first-ever vineyard-designated Riesling from Love & Squalor, this is bone dry and as tart as lemon juice. Its green apple fruit shows excellent concentration. For acid lovers, this will be a revelation. If acid isn't your thing, look to the winery's regular Riesling instead.

DESIGNATION Sunnyside Vineyard
VARIETY Riesling
APPELLATION Willamette Valley, Willamette Valley, Oregon, US
WINERY Love & Squalor
ALCOHOL 13%
DATE PUBLISHED 2/1/2018

Review online: http://www.winemag.com/buying-guide/love-squalor-2015-sunnyside-vineyard-riesling-willamette-valley/

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Reviews by Paul Gregutt, a Contributing Editor for Wine Enthusiast magazine, a founding member of the magazine’s Tasting Panel, and reviews the wines of Oregon and Canada.

Portland Monthly Magazine Picks Love & Squalor

Portland Monthly Magazine Fall issue listed Love & Squalor Riesling Willamette Valley as one of the "50 wines you need to drink RIGHT NOW!"

WINE PICKS

The 50 Oregon Wines You Need to Drink Right Now
Eight local wine experts give their top bottle picks for every activity, from stormwatching to drinking while you cook.

LOVE & SQUALOR
2014 Sunnyside Vineyard Riesling
Willamette Valley
$48 at Avalon Wine Inc
“ACID! And not the ‘I woke up after a rave’ kind—the lean, mouthwatering, steely, brace-yourself kind. There is a bit of weight and power behind it to balance the austerity.”
Kurt Heilemann

See the whole article here

By Benjamin Tepler  9/13/2017 at 5:28pm  
Published in the October 2017 issue of Portland Monthly

Great Northwest Wines Review Says We Are "Outstanding"

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  

Portland Monthly Magazine's top 50 wines

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

Great Northwest Wine Blog Reviews

Love & Squalor 2011 Antsy Pants Riesling, Willamette Valley

By Great Northwest Wine on June 27, 2015

Portland Wine Company’s reserve approach to the noble grape of Germany is not your grandmother’s Riesling — unless, by chance, her name is Brunhilda. The greenish hue of the drink comes with heavy vapors of diesel and petrol, joined by gooseberry, lychee nut and Thompson Seedless grapes. Across the palate it takes nerdy, nervy and succulent approach with fresh gooseberry, Granny Smith apple peel and lime pith. A bit of the petrol also trickles into the flavors, backed by a structure that’s a dry as bone and unusually lowin alcohol. The IRF Scale portrays this blend of Brooks Vineyard (66%), planted in 1976, and Cherry Grove Vineyard as “dry.” And the chemistry from this cool vintage reflects that rocket ship ride with the pH at 2.86, titratable acidity of 11.8 grams per liter and lemon/lime residual sugar down around 0.6%.

Rating: Recommended
Production: 54 cases
Alcohol: 9.9%

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Love & Squalor 2011 Antsy Pants Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley

By Great Northwest Wine on June 26, 2015

View fullsize

Portland vintner Matt Berson works with Temperance Hill in the Eola-Amity Hills, Winter’s Hill in the Dundee Hills and Saikkonen Vineyard on Ribbon Ridge for this Pommard-leaning Pinot Noir, and the Antsy Pants reference represents the barrel select tier for Love and Squalor. It’s indeed a more reserved style of Pinot Noir with aromas of ripe strawberry, dried Montmorency cherry and dried apricots, backed by cherry wood, earthiness, eucalyptus and anise. On the palate, there’s a delicate approach with Bing cherries and pink raspberries, backed by sweet tannins, moderate acidity, a touch of straw and cherry pie filling. Berson holds back the Antsy Pants bottlings until he believes the time is right, and while this would pair well with grilled salmon, the wine’s structure and moderate ABV bodes well for the future.

Rating: Outstanding!
Production: 75 cases
Alcohol: 12.6%

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Love & Squalor 2013 Riesling, Willamette Valley

By Great Northwest Wine on June 16, 2015

Matt Berson launched this edgy brand in 2007 under his Portland Wine Co., starting with a mere 65 cases. Now, he’s running at a clip of 1,800 cases, and this Riesling serves as a significant portion of his production. The dry-farmed vineyard sources include Brooks, which is poignant because the late Jimi Brooks helped mentor Berson, as well as other 40-year-old plantings such as Cuddihy and Sunnyside. Contributing diversity are Roncali near Eugene and Tunkalilla, the latter a younger site that joins Brooks Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills. Aromas of Ambrosia Salad, dried apricot, alyssum and dusty Granny Smith apple also pick up a pinch of spearmint. On the palate, there’s a marvelously dry and Grüner-like entry of Bosc pear, gooseberry, river rock and a touch of raw honey. Citrusy acidity more than balances the residual sugar of 1.3%, which reveals itself as a lick of Jolly Rancher Green Apple candy in the finish. Riesling geeks will appreciate the chemistry numbers of 9.7 TA, 2.92 pH and 10.6% ABV, and it slots in at “medium dry” on the International Riesling Foundation taste profile.

Rating: Outstanding!
Production: 440 cases
Alcohol: 10.6%

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About Great Northwest Wine

Articles authored by Great Northwest Wine are co-authored by Eric Degerman and Andy Perdue. In most cases, these are wine reviews that are judged blind by the Great Northwest Wine tasting panel.

Wine Enthusiast Reviews Are In!

“Fine winemaking is on display here...”

— Paul Gregutt Wine Enthusiast June 2015

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.

link to them here

Thanks Mr. Gregutt

Vinography Review

08.04.2014

Coastal Diamonds: The Rieslings of Oregon

About every two years, I get an invite to attend the International Pinot Noir Celebration in Oregon's Willamette Valley. The event continues to be one of the best run and highest quality wine events in the country, with a fantastic combination of excellent wine and equally fantastic food. More about Pinot Noir in a day or two. In addition to attending one of the best wine parties around, IPNC also gives me (and a number of other wine writers) the excuse to do something slightly less expected: taste a lot of Oregon Riesling. Each year following IPNC, the Oregon Riesling Alliance holds a tasting of a recent vintage.  Most people still have no idea that Oregon even grows Riesling, yet amidst the crowded hills of Pinot Noir, there lie an increasing number of Riesling vineyards. So many, in fact that continuing to describe these growers as experimental is as inaccurate as it is unfair.

Riesling has actually been planted in Oregon since the very first days of Oregon viticulture. Pioneering vintner Richard Sommer, whose 1960's Hillcrest Vineyards winery was one of the state's earliest forays into wine, included Riesling as part of his plantings. By 1980 Riesling actually accounted for 25% of the state's plantings. But then Pinot Noir came along and as often happens when a region discovers a gold mine, Riesling all but disappeared.

Today Oregon has close to 800 acres of Riesling, spread across the Umpqua Valley, the Rogue Valley, the Colombia River Valley, and of course, the Willamette Valley. From the perspective of broad climate measures, Oregon fits nicely in the known range for growing Riesling, which likes a cooler climate, known as Region 1 to climate scientists. Other winegrowing areas in Region 1 include Burgundy and Germany's Rhine region.

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2011 Love & Squalor "Antsy Pants" Riesling $28
Pale gold in color, this wine smells of mandarin oranges, pink grapefruit, and a hint of candle wax. In the mouth, juicy mandarin zest, pink grapefruit flesh, and lemon pith are beautifully balanced and fresh, with bright, mouthwatering acidity. Very pretty. 54 cases produced.

WINES WITH A SCORE BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2012 Love & Squalor Riesling, Willamette Valley $18
Palest greenish gold in color, this wine has a very distinctive nose of ripe pear and ripe papaya aromas. In the mouth, bright tropical fruits, including papaya, mix with pink grapefruit and delicate acidity that has a nice balance to it. Quite distinctive and interesting. Dry. 440 cases produced.

http://www.vinography.com/archives/2014/08/coastal_diamonds_the_rieslings.html