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Modus Operandi Cellars specializes in crafting exceptional single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley and Pinot Noirs from the Sonoma Coast.
Considered a “David in a valley of Goliaths,” this winemaker and family-owned passion project is fueled by a love of wine and a desire to create lasting relationships and memories through the liquid art of wine.
Winemaker Jason Moore’s journey began in Dallas, TX where he found his love of wine while working in fine dining. In 2004, he launched Modus Operandi with just 8 barrels of Cabernet. Today, the winery produces around 2,500 cases, with 90% sold directly to consumers.
Jason’s dedication to quality and innovation has made Modus Operandi a standout boutique winery.
Best Sellers
2021 Houyi Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon - 97pts
Deep garnet-purple in color, drifts effortlessly out with open-knit notes of blueberry pie and black cherry compote plus...
2021 Cabernet Sauvignon - Napa Valley - 94pts
The Napa Blend, with its deep purple-black hue, unveils an enchanting bouquet of warm cassis, blueberry preserves, and plush plum, enriched by exotic Indian spices and a touch of dark chocolate...
2021 UV Laguna Vineyard Pinot Noir - 97pts
Medium to deep ruby-purple in color, it bursts with black cherries, fresh blackberries, and pomegranate notes...
2022 Aetherius Reserve Pinot Noir - 95pts
A super blend of the best barrels of Gap’s Crown, Bacigalupi, Silver Eagle, and UV Laguna.
"Heavenly that seems too perfect for this world"
“For some, determining ones true purpose in life is accomplished thru following the path of least resistance, and thus relinquising to passion.”
About Our Founder & Winemaker Jason Moore
Considered a “David in a valley of Goliaths”, Jason Moore was born and raised in Dallas, TX where he fell in love with wine in his teenage years while working as a waiter in the city’s fine dining restaurants.
After a quick year in real estate at the age of 21, Jason realized that his passion was in wine, and more specifically, his lofty aspiration was to become a winemaker in Napa Valley. With the approval of his girlfriend, they eloped in secret, sold everything they owned, and with a paltry $5,000 in his bank account, drove cross country to pursue Jason’s dream of attending UC Davis’ Oenology & Viticulture program and starting a winery. However, after living in Davis for a few months and meeting and talking with students in the program, he realized that Davis wasn’t a good fit for him personally. It was too theory based as his learning style was “hands on”, like his father who was a carpenter… a tradesman. So he took it upon himself to teach himself, reading every winemaking book he could find. So at that point, he had the theory, he had just never actually made wine…
So, with no formal education in winemaking, Jason honed his craft in the garage of an elderly vineyard owner in Napa that he had fortuitously met at a wine tasting. He grew the grapes, Jason made the wine, and they split the wine on bottling day.
In 2004 at the age of 26, Jason officially started his professional winemaking career by launching Modus Operandi Cellars & Vicarious Wines with 200 cases of Napa Cabernet. Since then, Jason has grown the winery to over 4,000 cases selling 90+ percent direct to consumer with little to no advertising.
His wines have been poured at a historic White House State Dinner, they’ve been written into a Michael Connelly novel The Black Box, and have consistently scored in the mid to high 90’s by Parker, Dunnuck, Galloni, Suckling, and other major critics.
Customer Testimonials
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My husband and I very much enjoyed our tasting with Jason. I was pleasantly surprised he was able to accommodate us on such short notice! We loved the that our tasting was with winemaker himself and he told us about how he got started. Generous tastings and the wines themselves were amazing! We ended up getting 3 bottles, no pressure at all that’s just how good his wines are.
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We've been to approximately 60-70 wineries over the last 10 years, we usually can find one or two varieties at each vineyard that we're willing to purchase. Modus Operandi Cellars is one of the few where everthing we tasted...we wanted to buy. Caitlyn met us at the outside tasting lounge, and proceeded to give us a great experience.
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Our experience at the tasting in Napa was like no other! We sat with Jason, the winemaker (and Caitlyn) and had the rare opportunity to ask Jason questions about his wine. He educated us on his approach to winemaking. He also shared his story and his vision for his wine. It was a fantastic and unique experience! The most important thing is the wine is PHENOMENAL and we cannot wait for the next club member shipment!
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If you’re a fan of doing the whole “one of these things is not like the other” game then Modus Operandi is your kind of winery. Jason Moore is a self taught (although he is quick to credit mentors) winemaker from Dallas Texas. He is not a billionaire, he’s not operating out of a Howard Backen designed cathedral of a winery and he’s not perched atop Pritchard Hill on a perfect piece of land. What he is is a salt of the earth guy who wears every hat in his company, has cultivated relationships that allow him to source some of the absolute best fruit in Napa and Sonoma, and has used that fruit to make some of the best wines I’ve had. Jason has built MO from zero to where it is today, approximately 5,000 cases of as he puts it “too many wines”. I have recently been in a Pinot Noir phase, and as luck would have it Jason recently began making Pinot. While not his main focus, the two Pinots he shared w me (UV Laguna and Gap’s Crown) were exceptional, I am certain his other two from Silver Eagle and Bacigalupi are just as good. We then moved to his Antithesis blend which is as unique as his story, and it’s also a winner. I won’t tell the whole story, but I assure you you’ve never had a wine made like this before, and it is great. Next up were two 2019 single vineyard Cabernets, Edcora and Sage Ridge. These two wines, while being dense, powerful and rich, were also velvety smooth and elegant, light on their feet so to speak. Jason shared 5 wines with us and I would absolutely buy every single one. I don’t join wine clubs, I joined this one. Do yourself a favor and book a tasting, you won’t be disappointed.
My husband and I very much enjoyed our tasting with Jason. I was pleasantly surprised he was able to accommodate us on such short notice! We loved the that our tasting was with winemaker himself and he told us about how he got started. Generous tastings and the wines themselves were amazing! We ended up getting 3 bottles, no pressure at all that’s just how good his wines are.
We've been to approximately 60-70 wineries over the last 10 years, we usually can find one or two varieties at each vineyard that we're willing to purchase. Modus Operandi Cellars is one of the few where everthing we tasted...we wanted to buy. Caitlyn met us at the outside tasting lounge, and proceeded to give us a great experience.
Our experience at the tasting in Napa was like no other! We sat with Jason, the winemaker (and Caitlyn) and had the rare opportunity to ask Jason questions about his wine. He educated us on his approach to winemaking. He also shared his story and his vision for his wine. It was a fantastic and unique experience! The most important thing is the wine is PHENOMENAL and we cannot wait for the next club member shipment!
