Modus Operandi Cellar St Helena
Modus Operandi Cellars,St Helena,California : Jason’s incredible story from Waiting Tables In Restaurant To Owner Of Winery.
St. Helena town is charming and welcoming heart of the Napa Valley, California in USA , it is nestled amid the vine-draped upvalley hills. Winemaking began here as early as eighteenth century, and now become hub of wineries. The wineries in St. Helena range from powerhouses such as Sutter Home and Louis Martini to critically acclaimed small producers including Vineyard 29 and Terra Valentine Winery.
Housed in the grand stone building that was once the Christian Brothers winery, the Culinary Institute Of USA which offers superb culinary education with classes, a tasting bar and an acclaimed onsite eatery.
Modus Operandi Cellars, began its story much much later but an interesting winery. Their wines did get place in White House, the seat of US power.
It is operated by Jason Moore, moved from Texas to the area around 2000 to Napa Valley area. His journey is really incredible, worked for several years in the restaurant industry waiting tables at fine establishments while living in Dallas and during this time earned his real estate license. Thereafter used to wait tables by night and sell real estate by day. Ambitions of going on to a successful career in real estate were slowly squelched when he realized this was something that he was just not passionate about. Racking his brain for a career that would combine “fun” and education with something he was already passionate about clicked one day when his wife said “how about doing something with wine”.
This seriously hit home and within months the family sold most everything owned and moved to Davis, California with the possible intent of attending enology and viticulture programs at UC Davis . While in Davis he started to learn as much about wine as possible by immersing himself in wine making books, talking to other UC Davis enology and viticulture students and those in the industry. Being a hands on guy and describing winemaking as “art supported by science” he eventually decided he needed to get some hands on experience.
What turned into a fortuitous event occurred at a wine tasting. He met a Napa vineyard owner who had bought a piece of land for a vacation home which happened to have a sizeable vineyard. At the tasting, the gentleman told Jason about his vineyard and that he knew next to nothing about vineyard management and winemaking. Jason asked if it would be ok if he took his second crop and the reply came back that he could have the entire first crop!
Many things are often said at tastings and you never know if someone is serious or not. Several months later Jason approached this man and the deal was still on. In addition, he bought Jason all the necessary wine making equipment and setup a small lab containing everything he needed in a garage. Jason was able to put all his theory and studying to the test and he made several garagiste produced vintages. During this time he was still working in the hospitality industry, at the La Toque Restaurant which at the time was located in Yountville.
For Jason these were extremely long days in Napa while still commuting between Davis – besides his job at La Toque and his own wine making project he was also on the wine making team at Viader where he furthered his winemaking experience. It is clear that Jason has a well focused passion for his art and truly enjoys wine making. Working with a number of small lots he has the flexibility and interest to experiment with different yeasts, barrel programs and a number of other wine making techniques using grapes from the same vineyard. This experimentation is more of a long term philosophy by over time choosing what works and applying this to future harvests.
His first vintage was in 2004; over the years he has moved his wine making operations to several small wineries in the valley including at Silenus Vintners and at “JuiceBox”, a state of the art “business park” winery located in south Napa.
Currently Jason produces his wines at Brasswood Winery in St. Helena , state of the art production facility, where a number of premium labels are made. Jason also provides consulting winemaker services for select other Napa based producers.
The 2008 Sauvignon Blanc is sourced from an organic vineyard in Rutherford. This wine strikes a very nice balance between the more grassy New Zealand styled Sauvignon Blancs and the Napa more fruit forward versions.
It is a wine that is a result of several years prior experience using fruit from this vineyard as well as testing different yeast regiments and barrel programs. This wine saw both tank and barrel during its aging, is pale straw in the glass with excellent aromatics including notes of citrus blossom and honeysuckle. The palate is not overly creamy or for that matter too lean. It is crisp and clean with a super long finish leaving lingering notes of citrus on the palate including grapefruit.
All of the Modus red wines are blends – the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon is from some excellent vineyard sources including the Rocca Vineyards in cooler Coombsville, east of the town of Napa, Merlot from Oakville and a bit of Cabernet Franc from the Crocker Starr Vineyard in St. Helena. This is a dark wine with lots of black fruit showing on the nose as well as touches of cocoa powder and cedar. The entry is soft and juicy but builds up structure rather quickly by the mid palate leading to a finish with broad dusty tannins. Jason is very careful in his tannin management and his red wines do not display huge chalky tannin based finishes, rather they are meant to be enjoyed now and with food.
His wines are very interesting.The 2007 Vicarious is a unique red blend including the majority varietal being Cabernet Sauvignon as well as smaller amounts of Petite Sirah, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Merlot. This wine was released in October 2009. It is a wine that over delivers for the price. It is a soft and voluptuous wine that is extremely dark in color. This wine appeals to a wide variety of palates. It shows dark berry fruit, dark chocolate and is a good candidate to pair with something gamey or something BBQ’d. Rounded dusty tannins anchor the pleasing finish.
His Antithesis is a very unique proprietary red wine which combines two varietals we have not yet seen in a wine from a Napa producer. If you are lucky to get your hands on this wine you can test your palate to try and identify these two red varietals! The Antithesis is made in such small quantities that is sells out rather quickly.
Jason received a big feather in his cap when his Sauvignon Blanc made way to the White House. It was served at President Obama’s first State Dinner for the than Prime Minister of India Man Mohan Singh.
As of July 2015 Modus Operandi offers their wines in a tasting room called The Wine Thief that features small production Napa based vintners. This tasting room is located on the corner of 1st and McKinstry Streets directly across from Gott’s Roadside Hamburgers and the Oxbow Public Market.
St. Helena town is charming and welcoming heart of the Napa Valley, California in USA , it is nestled amid the vine-draped upvalley hills. Winemaking began here as early as eighteenth century, and now become hub of wineries. The wineries in St. Helena range from powerhouses such as Sutter Home and Louis Martini to critically acclaimed small producers including Vineyard 29 and Terra Valentine Winery.
Housed in the grand stone building that was once the Christian Brothers winery, the Culinary Institute Of USA which offers superb culinary education with classes, a tasting bar and an acclaimed onsite eatery.
Modus Operandi Cellars, began its story much much later but an interesting winery. Their wines did get place in White House, the seat of US power.
It is operated by Jason Moore, moved from Texas to the area around 2000 to Napa Valley area. His journey is really incredible, worked for several years in the restaurant industry waiting tables at fine establishments while living in Dallas and during this time earned his real estate license. Thereafter used to wait tables by night and sell real estate by day. Ambitions of going on to a successful career in real estate were slowly squelched when he realized this was something that he was just not passionate about. Racking his brain for a career that would combine “fun” and education with something he was already passionate about clicked one day when his wife said “how about doing something with wine”.
This seriously hit home and within months the family sold most everything owned and moved to Davis, California with the possible intent of attending enology and viticulture programs at UC Davis . While in Davis he started to learn as much about wine as possible by immersing himself in wine making books, talking to other UC Davis enology and viticulture students and those in the industry. Being a hands on guy and describing winemaking as “art supported by science” he eventually decided he needed to get some hands on experience.
What turned into a fortuitous event occurred at a wine tasting. He met a Napa vineyard owner who had bought a piece of land for a vacation home which happened to have a sizeable vineyard. At the tasting, the gentleman told Jason about his vineyard and that he knew next to nothing about vineyard management and winemaking. Jason asked if it would be ok if he took his second crop and the reply came back that he could have the entire first crop!
Many things are often said at tastings and you never know if someone is serious or not. Several months later Jason approached this man and the deal was still on. In addition, he bought Jason all the necessary wine making equipment and setup a small lab containing everything he needed in a garage. Jason was able to put all his theory and studying to the test and he made several garagiste produced vintages. During this time he was still working in the hospitality industry, at the La Toque Restaurant which at the time was located in Yountville.
For Jason these were extremely long days in Napa while still commuting between Davis – besides his job at La Toque and his own wine making project he was also on the wine making team at Viader where he furthered his winemaking experience. It is clear that Jason has a well focused passion for his art and truly enjoys wine making. Working with a number of small lots he has the flexibility and interest to experiment with different yeasts, barrel programs and a number of other wine making techniques using grapes from the same vineyard. This experimentation is more of a long term philosophy by over time choosing what works and applying this to future harvests.
His first vintage was in 2004; over the years he has moved his wine making operations to several small wineries in the valley including at Silenus Vintners and at “JuiceBox”, a state of the art “business park” winery located in south Napa.
Currently Jason produces his wines at Brasswood Winery in St. Helena , state of the art production facility, where a number of premium labels are made. Jason also provides consulting winemaker services for select other Napa based producers.
The 2008 Sauvignon Blanc is sourced from an organic vineyard in Rutherford. This wine strikes a very nice balance between the more grassy New Zealand styled Sauvignon Blancs and the Napa more fruit forward versions.
It is a wine that is a result of several years prior experience using fruit from this vineyard as well as testing different yeast regiments and barrel programs. This wine saw both tank and barrel during its aging, is pale straw in the glass with excellent aromatics including notes of citrus blossom and honeysuckle. The palate is not overly creamy or for that matter too lean. It is crisp and clean with a super long finish leaving lingering notes of citrus on the palate including grapefruit.
All of the Modus red wines are blends – the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon is from some excellent vineyard sources including the Rocca Vineyards in cooler Coombsville, east of the town of Napa, Merlot from Oakville and a bit of Cabernet Franc from the Crocker Starr Vineyard in St. Helena. This is a dark wine with lots of black fruit showing on the nose as well as touches of cocoa powder and cedar. The entry is soft and juicy but builds up structure rather quickly by the mid palate leading to a finish with broad dusty tannins. Jason is very careful in his tannin management and his red wines do not display huge chalky tannin based finishes, rather they are meant to be enjoyed now and with food.
His wines are very interesting.The 2007 Vicarious is a unique red blend including the majority varietal being Cabernet Sauvignon as well as smaller amounts of Petite Sirah, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Merlot. This wine was released in October 2009. It is a wine that over delivers for the price. It is a soft and voluptuous wine that is extremely dark in color. This wine appeals to a wide variety of palates. It shows dark berry fruit, dark chocolate and is a good candidate to pair with something gamey or something BBQ’d. Rounded dusty tannins anchor the pleasing finish.
His Antithesis is a very unique proprietary red wine which combines two varietals we have not yet seen in a wine from a Napa producer. If you are lucky to get your hands on this wine you can test your palate to try and identify these two red varietals! The Antithesis is made in such small quantities that is sells out rather quickly.
Jason received a big feather in his cap when his Sauvignon Blanc made way to the White House. It was served at President Obama’s first State Dinner for the than Prime Minister of India Man Mohan Singh.
As of July 2015 Modus Operandi offers their wines in a tasting room called The Wine Thief that features small production Napa based vintners. This tasting room is located on the corner of 1st and McKinstry Streets directly across from Gott’s Roadside Hamburgers and the Oxbow Public Market.
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