Modus Operandi Cellars

Modus Operandi Cellars
5225 Solano Ave
Napa, California
USA 94558
Phone: 530-219-6199
http://moduswines.com

Contact: Jason Moore
Email: [email protected]

My path started in Dallas where by day I was a real estate agent and by night I was a waiter working with many of the cities finest restaurants. Visibly unhappy with the direction of my life, my wife helped me realize that I needed to make a change and work with something that I truly loved. She and I both knew that I had a deep passion for wine so it seemed to be the obvious answer. Six months later (2002) we had a three week long garage sale, sold everything we owned and moved to California where I had the ambitious aspirations of becoming a Winemaker.

Meeting my mentors...

We arrived and lived in Davis, CA for about four years where the intention was for me to attend the UC Davis' Enology and Viticulture program. Unfortunately after digging deeper I learned that Davis was just too theory based for my learning style so plan B was to basically educate myself thru my own self study and thru the tutilage of winemaker mentors.

I believe that winemaking is an art form that is supported by tradition and science, and therefore feel that talented winemakers are not exclusively produced from Universities, but can also be the result of something more inate and passionate.

UC Davis extension and Napa College classes were used to supplement my knowledge and fill in the gaps that books couldn't fill. However, true learning when it comes to such a stylistically artistic, yet mind blowingly organic and mystifying thing such as winemaking can ONLY be accomplished through MAKING WINE. There is absolutely no substitute.

Getting my hands dirty...

Right place, right time, right question... I got lucky by meeting a gentelman at a wine tasting who was a vineyard owner in Napa and was willing to GIVE me grapes from his vineyard to practice with. He even set me up with a place in his garage to make the wine, barrels, bins, and even basic lab equipment. It was the best learning experience that I could of ever asked for as there was no one looking over my shoulder telling me what to do... I had to figure it out myself by putting the theory I had learned to work. I was what they call a garagiste.

All while coddling my garage project, I was busy developing my palate, meeting winemakers (acquiring mentors), and spending time helping out at crush... a few days here, a few days there... just to get a feel for how different wineries worked. In 2005 I was on the harvest Winemaking team at Viader Vineyards & Winery on Howell Mountain.

Paying the bills...

I had been a waiter in fine restaurants for over ten years and from 2003 thru 2006 worked proudly at a restaurant which I consider the pinnacle of my service career... La Toque Restaurant in Rutherford, CA. Working at La Toque opened a lot of doors for me in my quest to meet vineyard owners, winemakers, and other influential personalities in the business. In fact, several of the vineyards that I source from today are a result of me serving the vineyard owner and (probably unprofessionally) asking to buy their fruit while I was serving them.

In 2006 I hung up the waiters apron for good after accepting a management position at the host facility where I would end up making Modus.

Modus Operandi Cellars is born...

Modus Operandi was founded with our first vintage in 2004 by winemaker/partner Jason Moore, and business partners Dr. Myun Han, Steve Vargas, Robert Rogel, and Akira Higa all of whom invested in the vision and passion of a Dallas waiter turned Napa Valley winemaker.

Winemaker: Jason Moore

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Moore/1172697402

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