Last night I attended a (relatively-)small tasting event at the downtown Napa offices of VinTank. The David Lynch-esque surreality of meeting so many people I had theretofore only “spoken” to over email, Twitter, Facebook, and blog comments aside, it was an incredible evening and I drank some rather good wine.
But this, this was special.
I met Jason Moore, winemaker/partner/cofounder of Modus Operandi Cellars, and all-around pretty badass dude. His story is a good one, and you can check it out on his winery’s website… but this is neither truly here nor there. Lots of people out there with neat stories are making mediocre wine. Luckily for Jason (honestly, it’s got nothing to do with luck—it’s mad skills) he’s not one of them.
The 2007 Cabernet from Modus Operandi is gorgeous in the glass, a deep rich ruby red that fades to an almost-pink at the very edges. It never quite gets to pink, but it looks like it tries to. When I first took a whiff of this wine in the glass, I looked right at Jason and said, “Cool! Whoa, there is something really neat here. I like this!”
It took me a couple more sniffs to pinpoint it, but here’s my take on the nose: the fruit is red, but dark, like really awesome cherry. All very subtle, with good oak and something I’m referring to as “sweet leather.” It’s a really quite impressive nose. On the palate this is absolute Napa, with big notes of chocolate, raspberry, and tobacco. The wine features a medium-to-full body, with a long finish and sharp tannins. The tannins in this wine are begging to be given some time in the bottle, so I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say the 2007 M.O. Cab will be even better in the next 2-5 years.
Verdict: 92/100