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Love and Squalor 2012 Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, $28

By on July 7, 2015

love-and-squalor-pinot-noir-nvMcMinnville vintner Matt Berson counts some of Oregon’s most influential winemakers as his mentors, and he’s developed relationships with more than a dozen of the region’s more established vineyards since creating Portland Wine Co., in 2007. He picks from six of them for this Pinot Noir — Winter’s Hill, Temperance Hill, Cherry Grove, Cuddihy, Barnes and Saikkonn vineyards in nearly equal amounts. They work in concert to create a very fruit-filled nose, to be expected from many 2012s, with hints at dried cherry, cranberry, apricot and dried pineapple, along with rose petal and Red Hots candy. Inside, it’s very Rainier cherry, joined by fresh cranberry and strawberry/rhubarb compote. The medium structure offers elegance by featuring acidity over tannin, and his choice of essentially all neutral French oak keeps the focus on the fruit.

Rating: Excellent

Production: 900 cases

Alcohol: 13.6%

Winery website

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.

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