2022 Featured Wineries
2022 Tête de Cuvée
Jason Moore of Modus Operandi Cellars
Modus Operandi Cellars
Growing up in Dallas, as a 24 year old kid, winemaker wasn’t exactly the most obvious career path that springs to mind, but after working as a waiter in several of the city’s finest restaurants, acquiring a love for all things wine, getting the go-ahead from his bride to be, and selling everything that they owned, Jason Moore was off to California where yes, he had the lofty aspiration and dream of becoming a Winemaker.
Completely self-taught thru diligent self-study and the utilization of winemaking mentors, he knew that 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 hands on experience MAKING WINE. There is absolutely no substitute. Jason honed his craft in the garage of an elderly vineyard owner in Napa. He grew the grapes, made the wine, and they split the product on bottling day.
In 2004 at the age of 26, Jason officially started his professional career by launching Modus Operandi Cellars with 200 cases of Napa Cabernet. 2006 brought a new chapter where he was hired to manage the custom crush winery where I made Modus. Here Jason was responsible for over 1000 tons of grapes and literally hundreds of fermentations, working closely with 14 of the winery’s clients… a perfect crash course for the current chapter of my life. Now, he is currently the Consulting Winemaker for 5 small wine brands spanning Napa, Sonoma, Monterey, Sierra Foothills, and the Agoura Hills of Malibu.
It has been Jason’s great honor to have his wine poured at a historical State Dinner at the White House. Author Michael Connely has also written Modus Operandi into the bestselling novel The Black Box. This wine was hand selected to be paired with food prepared by Celebrity Chef Tom Coliccio at the 2013 Aspen Food and Wine festival.
Jason is so thankful to God that at such a young age, he found his passion and was fortunate enough to be able to enjoy it as a career. He believes that winemaking is an art that is supported by science however a solid conceptual understanding of the science is also necessary.
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