Jess MillerPinot Noir Rosé “Sound Check” 2021 (750ml)

Jess leases and does all the farming on a six-acre property in Chehalem Mountain AVA in the Willamette Valley; She also farms a 30-year old site in the coastal foothills called Sunny Ridge where in exchange for the rehabilitation she receives payment in a small amount of Pinot Noir grapes. She also farms a few other small sites herself. It’s important to note that even in our world of small wineries, Jess’s project is MINISCULE. Her first vintage was barely more than 100 cases of wine in total.

Sound Check, from Hollow Oak Acres in the Chehalem Mountains—six acres of Pinot Noir around 13 years old, planted at 500ft of elevation, farmed by Jess. This is also where Pet Sounds comes from, and in most vintages Sound Check is intended as a preview of the Pét-Nat’s style, but this year the wines have emerged with different personalities.

When first opening the reduction shows as savory, almost beef broth nose with a herbal and sour fruit underneath of rose, hibiscus and lemongrass. Bright acidity, but not sharp—the wine completed malo this vintage and is totally unfiltered—it has an airy, almost mineral water freshness to the palate, brisk and crisp with a firmly mineral and salty finish. Damn, this is mouthwatering and the tomato water-esque palate is exactly where my brain is at this moment in late summer.

It takes soul to make wines that nail that “needle-on-the-record” dopamine rush. Tone and texture, sound and sonics is all that matters after all our rhapsodizing is done.