Matthew Bruce Sorensen, owner and winemaker at LongSword Vineyard, passed away on July 4th, 2024 on his land, surrounded by family and friends. He had decided to go into hospice only two weeks prior after an arduous two-year battle with stage IV colon cancer.
Matt was born in Toledo, Ohio and grew up with his mother, Mildred Sorensen and younger sister, Amy Vangeloff. His father, Calvin Sorensen also lived in Toledo and saw him frequently. Matt graduated from St John’s Jesuit High School in 1973 and was accepted into the inaugural Honors Tutorial Program at Ohio University where he earned a BS in Botany. He then went on to earn a master’s degree in biochemistry from Purdue University followed by an MBA from the prestigious Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He became a research scientist for the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company, where he ran his own lab and worked on groundbreaking medications including Prozac.
After “serving his time” in corporate America, Matt began looking to pivot his career to one of his deepest passions—wine. When he purchased the vineyard now known as LongSword Vineyard in 1999, he became one of the very few initial wineries in the region, helping to lead the way for what is now an established and treasured AVA (American Viticultural Area). Matt served as LongSword’s owner and winemaker for over twenty years, making wines that were elegant, complex, and memorable.
Matt was one-of-a-kind with a wry sense of humor and an unshakeable belief in himself and his dream. Underneath his often churlish exterior, he could be quite disarming and endearing. He was fiercely intelligent and an outspoken advocate for science. He loved LongSword more than anything in the entire world, except perhaps his many canine companions that he cared for over the years.
He will be greatly missed by his family, friends, and the Applegate community. He is survived by his nieces Kate and Abbey Vangeloff and his sister and brother-in-law Amy and Jim Vangeloff.