Jess Miller does nearly everything herself, from pruning the vines to bottling the wine, and the result is some of the most distinctive small-production Pinot Noir coming out of Oregon.
Backstory
Miller built her foundation in France, tending vines at Clos Roche Blanche in Touraine alongside Julien Pineau and gaining experience with Alice and Olivier de Moor. She is also a vineyard scholar of sorts, having translated a French pruning guide that was published in 2018. She returned to Oregon to farm and make her own wine.
The Region
Her fruit comes from the Eola-Amity Hills AVA in Oregon's Willamette Valley, a cool, wind-swept area at the heart of the state's Pinot Noir country. She has worked as a vineyard manager there, farming about 12 acres and drawing on parcels she knows intimately.
Vineyards and Farming
Miller handles the farming personally, including pruning, tractor work and canopy management, and works a small organically farmed parcel of Pinot Noir. Her hands-on, low-input approach in the field carries directly through to the cellar.
Winemaking
Her production is tiny: an early vintage amounted to exactly four 225-liter barrels. She makes Pinot Noir and a pet-nat rose with minimal intervention, letting the cool-climate fruit set the tone.
The Wines
The wines include single-site Willamette Valley Pinot Noir bottlings and a pet-nat rose that admirers have called one of the best in America.
