Chance Incounters

Its really hard to complain about the weather when its 65 degrees and absolutely beautiful in the middle of January... this is true even for a winemaker (even though I thoroughly enjoy it) when I know we drastically need the rain season to begin for fear of having yet another late and challenging growing season. So I wont complain...
In fact, today was one of those days that I think a lot of people yearn to have but dont get in the majority of places across America. I truly appreciate and love where I live... and I had a wonderful conversation to this effect with a new couple to my circle of friends this evening. They are delightful, creative, passionate... attractive, and are worthy of a blog post because I know that they will be friends for as long as they are our Yountville neighbors (and perhaps even longer).
We met Sean and Melissa McArdle at the Yountville pool earlier this last summer where we were both enjoying some time with our daughters Isabella and Gaia. The girls, both very close in age, made that immidiate unabashed connection that adults are most often too cautious to make. As the children play, the parents make the smallest of small talk initially, until finally steering the brief conversation to a topic other than children. Play dates are arranged where the mothers are given time to connect, and finally the suggestion of a dinner is proposed.
So it is written, and so it was done.
At our 'first supper' we learned a lot about our new frineds.

Sean and I have a lot in common. On the back of every bottle of Modus Operandi wine, there is a quote that I wrote a long time ago that defines the mantra of my journey...

"For some, determining one's true purpose in life is accomplished thru following the path of least resistance, and thus relinquishing to passion."

For me, it was selling all of my possessions in Dallas to become a Winemaker in Napa. For Sean, it was leaving a life as a successful architect to immerse himself in his passion of and for creating art. And boy is he talented. I was so impressed by his work. It is truly world class. Have a look at his blog and gallery: http://www.seanpatrickmcardle.com/
Melissa is a classic Georgia peach... sweet as can be. And for us, the connection was social media and writing but she also owns and operates a very well done online artisan boutique  http://www.reverie-daydream.com
My favorite thing about the evening was the conversation....

• Both of our families are debating on where to send our daughters to school. Whether it be Waldorf, traditional, private, or religious... its a big decision for a family with an only child. Decision to be determined...
• Intricacies of social media... HOW it is completely valid for modern day marketing when done well. HOW so many people rejected it in the beginning but now are willfully and sometimes unknowingly embracing it (this is a whole other blog post folks). 
• Travel... We have all spent time traveling in Europe. Sean and Melissa have lived in Paris. Will (the chef of the evening) and his wife are from Europe now living in Sausolito. Travel is so close to my heart. I am from a small family in Texas that never traveled and feel that I missed out on... THE WORLD...  I really want to make sure that my daughter experiences as much (ha ha) if not more (duh) than me. Actually, at the tender age of 4, she has been to more countries, and has eaten at more fine restaurants than I had at the age of 30. I am very proud to say that. I am doing my job for her. After all, I'm grooming the future winemaker for Modus Operandi Cellars. Anything less, would be uncivilized. 

Anyway, Sean and Melissa were wonderful hosts. Melissa made my wife gluten free foods, since she lives sans gluten. Thanks to them for that. 

I had an idea that if I ever do an "artist series" label, I'd probably ask Sean to do it for me.  But lets slow down a little... we should probably hang out a second, third, and fourth time before I start getting too excited about those kinds of things. I understand we have a dinner set for Bardessono (my fav) next Sunday. I very much look forward to that. 

Subscribe please. I asked nicely.  

Optical Sorting at the winery... super high tech!

Finally getting a chance to post the video I made of the optical sorter that we have the great privilege to use at the winery... have a look!

Sorry for the crude quality... this was taken on my iPhone so here is another from Clos Pegase

The Pellenc optical sorter is an amazing machine, OMG... the tech was telling me how this thing works and specific he could dial this thing to be and it was blowing my mind. 

How it works:

• The fruit is destemmed and drops onto a shaker table to spread out and evenly distribute the fruit.
• Berries are then dropped onto a series of circular rubber bands that are placed in and circulate on dedicated tracks at high speed. There are about 300 of these bands in tracks and the space between each band track becomes the track for the berries to be carried on. Here the berries get caught and are suspended between 2 bands and are shot in a straight line thru the optical eye.
• In a distance of about 4 inches, the optical eye maps out what is coming by and marks the object with either an X or an O, X's signifying jacks or other MOG (materials other than grapes), and O's signifying good grapes.
• As the grapes are jettisoned off the rubber band track, in mid air, they pass by an overhead pressurized bar which has a large number of pin holes which are pointing directly down.
• The grapes are shot off the track, the computer identifies the X and times the burst of air to shoot the MOG down, out of mid air, and into the MOG collection tray, while the grapes (O's) are allowed to fly by onto the sorting table for further inspection.

Sweet

How specific:

• "How fast do you want it to go? We are currently running at 50%." 
• As this thing is FLYING! 
• "How much imperfection are you comfortable with? I can have it remove any grapes that have broken skins". 
• wow
• "How dark do you want your berries? We can dial it to blow out any pale or lighter colored grapes."

As you can see above, the system does a pretty amazing job of separating (blowing out) anything that's NOT a grape but at MO (thanks to AO), we were going the extra mile by sending the post Pellenc sorted fruit on to 30 feet of sorting table where an additional 9 people were making extra sure that there wasn't ANYTHING but grapes going into our...

...freshly opened brand new French oak barrels for fermentation. 

Why don't you have a glass?

Introducing the Maven Vineyard... and a little rant

The time has finally come... I have my own little vineyard to have and to hold... as my own..

The tiny 1 acre Modus 'Maven' Vineyard - Rutherford, California

So many of my guests have asked me during our tasting if I ever wish to have my own vineyard... and the answer is always, YES. And my reason is simple and stems from my root as a young and curious winemaking artist... "a true artist who is uber passionate about their craft will most often take the time to stretch their own canvas, which can take up to 2 weeks to complete to perfection. Imagine how much thought will go into the first brush stroke when so much time, effort, and passion has been taken to create the perfect palate by which to lay the image, message, or feeling of the artist... To me, as I've stated many times...

"Winemaking begins in the mind... from here, the winemaker determines what style of wine is desired and maps out a plan of action which leads directly back to the vineyard." 

 So yes, I do desire to be personally responsible for a specific wine from day 1, to day 365 and continuously on.

I've been given the amazing opportunity to care for an extremely tiny vineyard in the famed Rutherford region of the Napa Valley. This little gem is owned by the aunt of Gary Galleron and is just under 1 acre in size planted to clone 4 (one of my favorites for its power and intensity of color and structure).
Soon, I will prune this vineyard and I will take my camera with me to visually show you my thoughts as to how I come to the decisions I'll be making in the vineyard... why 2 buds on this position, 3 on that one, and 1 on this one... why am I removing this arm and how I replace it with a fresh, healthy cane from the previous year... whatever it may be.

But more importantly, this gives me the opportunity to be the man I say that I am in regards to totally being hands on in all aspects of the process. Because the honest truth of the matter is that, there are physical things that get delegated to others from time to time (and rightfully so) to free up valuable time for more intellectual processes. But again, I totally value and refuse to give up the joy I receive from knowing that MY HANDS topped those barrels... MY HANDS blended that wine... MY HANDS pruned those vines... MY HANDS sorted that fruit... THESE are the things that remind me constantly that I was born to do what I do. This "classically uneducated" mind... just kinda gets it.
Hard to explain, but all I can say, for those who understand, is that, I SEE the wine... I truly understand what's going on on a conceptual plane... cant draw the molecule, but I get it. I'm one of those kids that classic education wasn't the good fit... probably brighter than most, but you wouldn't know it from my grades. IM CONCEPTUAL!.. and different... but look at me now... like the rare lotus, I have blossomed... the creative soul emerges and the science fascination melds with creativity and curiosity... and PASSION!!! THAT IS LIVING! THAT, IS BEING ALIVE... WHEN YOU LOVE WHAT YOU DO SO MUCH THAT IT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT!!! You can NOT purchase or learn that. You simply have to be lucky enough to find it yourself or fortunate enough to have understanding parents who allow you to explore, and do not force you down a path of foie gras'esque prescribed doses of education (aka, shoved down your throat).
Yes, I'm on a rant. Yes, I've been drinking a little wine. (define little...)
I guess the point is that, when you're in the boat that I'm in (ruthlessly ambitious and  head over heels in love with my "job"), you have to let go a little and allow people to help you, otherwise you place a ceiling on the growth that you can obtain. But you can't totally disconnect... you have to have something that connects you... like an umbilical cord... like Gaia on Pandora (yes, I'm a child of pop culture... forgive the references).
Bottom line...
This little vineyard is my connection... my spinning top... similar to the one that Leonardo DiCaprio used in the movie Inception to create a link, shedding light on what was reality, by determining and defining what was a dream...

And the vineyard name Maven... A maven is a trusted expert in a particular field, who seeks to pass knowledge on to others.

Hang with me, and learn about the process from beginning to end. 

(due to the extremely small amount of wine that we will produce from this vineyard, only wineclub members will have access (so join up!)).

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New Website!

Long time... I know... been busy. Sorry.

And the brand new Modus website is launched......... finally! 

My designer (VinAgency), website host (VineSpring), and I have spent the last few weeks going over this website with a fine toothed comb AND ITS FINALLY HERE!!!

Thanks to the best bottle shot guy in wine country, Bob McClenahan, the images are crisp and capture the life present in Napa during the growing season. 

Anyone looking for a new website shouldn't hesitate contacting any of these people to help out. 

I'm going to be posting some more stuff soon now that I have some more time... stay tuned. 

Jason

Some Videos - take a tour, learn something

Really should of added these a while back. Above is the video for Modus.

Here we have my visual resume. 

And here we have a cool video with the Legendary Gary Vaynerchuk

2009- The Vintage that Washed Away Our Sins

For the last few years I have been hearing a lot of talk about the backlash of the wine buying population in regards to high alcohol wines. I have been fortunate in my life to of enjoyed a ton of amazing wines in my life, both aged and young. This past weekend, some of my friends were playing mystery wine and after deliberating for some time, we were all pleased to see that the particular wine we were tasting was a 1977 (my birth year) Napa Valley Cabernet and were equally pleased with how beautiful it was and with how well the wine held up for the past 32 years. This of course ignited a conversation with a Sommelier friend that was with us about how we as winemakers are making wine for the palates of the high and mighty wine critics and in turn were losing age ability and the sense of place with our "over ripe, high alcohol fruit bombs". Of course I defended my wines adamantly as, although I do like a big wine, I feel that my wines have balance and are appropriate for the terrior that we are blessed with here in the Napa Valley. My position is this... people say a lot that they dont want a manipulated wine... I'm absolutely not going to pick grapes based on a pre-determined sugar and acid level which would result in a final alcohol of 12.5 to 14% just to say that I've made a low(er) alcohol wine. The sugar level of my grapes, when determining when to pick, is not even a consideration of mine. Sure I look, but its the flavor of the grapes, sensing the degradation of pyrazines (green/bell pepper flavors), visually seeing and tasting that the seeds are ripe, and feeling that the tannins are ripe... THIS is what prompts calling a pick and could come at 24 brix or at 28 brix or at 30 brix. And this, I feel, is actually a very natural way and mentality to have in regards to winemaking. I feel that not allowing what is ABSOLUTELY the natural terrioir (soil expression, sunlight exposure, climate, location, location, location) of the Napa Valley to show in the final wine would be more of a manipulation than picking at riper levels and adding of a few gallons of the local water back to its must in an effort to attain a reasonable alcohol level.

But what are we really talking about here? Wines in the 16 to 17 percent range are where people are drawing the line (I’ve made some). Some (not all) of the highest rated wines are guilty of this so it does beg the question… if I’m a business man that is interested in making the easy sell, perhaps I should follow suit and push the envelope with my wines in hopes of pleasing the wine critic gods. I can see how those of us who do what we do because we absolutely love it and thus, do it to please OURSELVES, would feel a bit hostile towards the passionless followers. (Again, full disclosure, I happen to really like big, ripe, although BALANCED AND COMPLEX fruit bombs… honest.)

Enter the 2009 vintage…

http://regnierstudionews.com

PRINTS:

If you are interested in owning an archive quality print of this image, or any of the other vineyard images featured here on Vinography, you can purchase one on the Michael Regnier Photography web site for $85.

2009 was a very rollercoaster kind of vintage to say the least. Everything started out absolutely fantastic and it was shaping up to be a fairytale vintage until October 12th when God decided to unleash the kind of rain storm that, in the minds of winemakers and vineyard owners, can only be compared to that of the great flood that Noah endured which washed the earth of its wickedness and in essence righted the wrongs of man. There were very few Bordeaux variety producers that were fortunate enough to have all of their fruit picked and processed by the time the rains came. I for one had about 90% of my fruit out in the rain. See, every year we have this little scare of rain late in the season, and every year you see all of these winemakers scrambling with their panic picks to get in before the rain, and every year we get the tiniest little sprinkle that kind of knocks the dust off the grapes, and then… two weeks of gorgeous sunshine. Well I’m usually the guy strutting around the winery thinking “ha ha, should have had some balls pal”. But this year the joke was on me. This was the worst mid harvest rain in over 30 years and being only 32 years old, this was the worst and most painful rain in my life… worse than the rain that canceled the day at the amusement park when I was 8 years old …which is pretty damn tragic by the way. I was literally found by my wife curled up in the fetal position in my closet, CRYING, and praying for the GD rain to stop. But what else was I supposed to do? The fruit wasn’t ripe so picking wasn’t an option. There would have been nothing I could do in the winery to hide the fact that my fruit wasn’t ready to be picked. So I waited, I sat, with my stress, and with my tequila, and I watched as already low brix levels fell lower as the vine sucked up that water. So I waited some more until the moist conditions in the vineyard began threatening the integrity of the fruit and I had to pick. At this point, it is what it is, and I had to make my adjustments in the winery so cold soaks went from 7 days to 1 or 2, native yeast was abandoned, bleeds went from 5 - 15% to 25%, preemptive strikes against microbes were taken, and lab analysis was more closely monitored. But what hurts the worst is the 25% bleed. My thought was that the fruit was most likely fairly swollen with water so the need to over compensate by concentrating the skin to juice ratio even more dramatically than normal was what needed to happen in order to get me back to the kind of powerful wines that I desire to make.

Well, 8 months later and after a tasting of every single barrel of wine that I produced in 2009 (160 barrels for me and all of my clients combined) I am SO happy to say that my initial prediction that the 2009 vintage would suck was not even close to being true. The wines are intensely powerful, have structure, complexity, length, and oh my God COLOR. So I’m a happy man for now.

What is the point aside from me talking about my 2009 wines?

The harvest rains of 2009 have in a way acted like the prophetic earth purifying rains of Noah, washing away the said “sins of modern winemakers” and have thus forced a vintage where, I would predict, alcohols will be lower across the board. Perhaps as a way to remind us that wine can be both beautiful and powerful even with lower alcohol levels. Only time will tell as there is still over a year of maturation remaining for the 09’s but from my tastings of the vintage the other day, its lookin good.

Pruning the Cielo vineyard

This past Sunday I embarked on a 3 day trip to visit my clients Bill and Richard Hirsh of

Cielo Malibu Estate 

in the Agoura Hills of Malibu. The purpose of the trip was to instruct the vineyard crew on pruning their 7 acres of vines.

The previous vineyard manager had a very ‘Central Valley mass production’ mentality which resulted in poorly pruned, messy, and overgrown vines. They therefore require some serious “cleaning up” and in some instances complete re-training of the vine.

Upon arriving, my first stop is always the Cielo tasting room which was named SIP Malibu and is located on Kanan Rd. The timing of my arrival was perfect as Sunday brunch was going off like crazy (tons of people) so obviously, I commenced enjoying the always gratis wines that I labored over for the last few years. However, a Spanish omelet and mimosas would start out the day this time… and would continue until dinner. Which brings me to dinner!!!

The Old Place

I have to go off on a slight tangent for a minute to tell you about the coolest OLD restaurant I’ve been to in a long, long time. Its called The Old Place and boy does it have some history and a somewhat divided reputation between the good and the bad. From the first time I visited Cielo, I had been told about this old institution of a restaurant and the experience that it is famous for giving. Here is what I was told… it was an original post office from the 40’s, they only serve clams, sirloin steak, and bread (but on Sunday they ONLY serve beef stew), the only non-alcoholic beverage they serve is apple juice, Bob Dylan used to play there, the hours of operation are only a sort of ‘guideline’, and the cook will only turn on the stove IF THERE ARE ENOUGH PEOPLE WANTING TO EAT THAT MAKES TURNING ON THE STOVE WORTH IT (usually 6 to 8 but totally up to him). I expected a rough, gruff, dirty, take-it-or-leave-it experience. Most places described like this would do the opposite of enticing me to give it a shot but there was something strangely alluring about it that I just had to experience for myself. I was delighted with what I did get though...  steak was good, beer was cold, and the people were genuine and nice. There just aren’t many places that provide the kind of atmosphere and experience you get here but you will only know what I’m talking about if you try it for yourself. Back to pruning…

A while back, I heard Michael Silacci (winemaker at OpusOne) say something that I will never forget… “great wine comes from great grapes, and great grapes come from great pruning”. I didn’t realize it until then but it makes so much sense if you think about it…  The most impacting aspect of pruning is what boils down to the fact that you are physically directing the vineyard toward a certain expected yield level relating to BALANCE, whether it be higher or lower, which will ideally translate to higher wine quality.

Now, the purpose of this blog entry isn't to necessarily teach people how to prune a vine but rather to go over the thoughts and factors that I considered when prescribing the pruning techniques for this specific vineyards situation. As I mentioned above, the pruning of this vineyard has historically been less than ideal.

See below:

• The Issue: 3 to 4 spurs at a single site along the cordon arm where there should be 1
• Why an Issue?: Due to the fact that there are usually 2 buds on each spur, when you have 3 spurs and thus 6 shoots growing from one position on the vine, and when there are generally 5 spur positions along each side of the arm (10 total), this creates a situation of extreme over crowding in the canopy and also an over cropping of fruit
• How it was addressed: In the situation where simply cleaning up by cutting off the extra spurs wouldn't work, we actually cut the entire arm off while using a strong cane to essentially cane prune the vine. From here we will re-train the vine starting this year with a fresh new cordon arm.
  
• The Issue: Not paying attention to the girth of the cane being pruned and in most cases cutting down to 3 buds per spur rather than 2 (or even 1)
• Why an Issue?: Same problem of overcrowding as above with the additional issue of potentially over taxing the vines energy and thus stunting the vines growth and ability to ripen the fruit. 
• How it was addressed: Taught the guys to look at the girth of each cane they are cutting and make a judgment call on how many buds to leave. Average sized canes get 2, small sized get 1, large still get only 2.
  
• The Issue: Not training (and therefore keeping) the spur positions down toward the cordon arm
• Why an Issue?: This is more aesthetic but you dont really want those positions to get too long
• How it was addressed: Find a basal bud that has pushed (if there is one) and cut all the way back to that 
  
• The Issue: Training the vines structure a season too early which doesn't allow for the root structure to be strong enough to support the vine
• Why an Issue?: In areas with really good run off, you have to give the vines enough time to focus solely on strengthening their root system so that they can support healthy, balanced growth and ultimately not have a problem ripening the fruit
• How it was addressed: For at least the first 2 years (depending on the physical appearance of the vine), cutting all the way back to 2 buds at ground level.
• The Issue: High vigor vines (possibly due to over watering in the growing season)...
  
• Why an Issue?: At the earliest point in time after berry set as possible, you want the vine to in essence think that it is going to die due to the fact that it has run out of water. By achieving this, the vine will re-direct its energy from producing leaves and growing long canes, to ripening the fruit and seeds... which is what we want!
•  How it was addressed: Here, due to the fact that we were in essence taking away a bunch of buds that would normally of been there (2 per spur vs 3, 1 spur vs 3) to suck up that energy, I decided to replace / balance that energy sapping potential with kicker canes (vigor diversion canes). The practice involves retaining one or more extra or “disposable” canes at pruning time, which greatly increases the total number of buds retained per vine. The kicker canes are allowed to grow until about mid-season, by which time the extra shoot growth has had an overall vigor reduction effect on canopy shoot growth. We also positioned the kicker canes outside of the top training wires so that the disposable growth could be removed without damaging the new shoots that we wanted to retain.
  

Deer in headlights???

Trust me, for quite a while as you are learning to prune, its like a new person looking at the matrix code... it takes time, but once you learn the code, you see the vine in a whole new light.

Every year, we have the privilege of getting to know each and every vine all over again. And in that short 5 minute long conversation we call pruning, we witness the rebirth of a new vintage thru the embryos present in the buds, spurs, and canes that we retain. I look forward to being a part of that for many years to come.

The Brotherhood of the Biodynamèèèk

Thursday, Jan 7, 2010

10:00pm

Tomorrow I drive the 2.5 hours from Napa to Frey Vineyards in the Redwood Valley to attend a day long biodynamic lecture by a leading instructor of the concepts. The following is the summary description of the lecture:

"These lectures will trace the activities of warmth, light, and rhythm in the life forms of the natural world. The intent is to form a picture of "the etheric" which is both an important and difficult concept. We will move from an historical look at the idea of the ethers into some of the contributing streams in Rudolf Steiner's thinking such as the fourth dimension, the nature of warmth and the infinitely distant, and then finally to the current scientific research that supports the idea of the etheric realm."

The Wikipedia definition of biodynamic agriculture:

A method of organic farming with homeopathic composts that treats farms as unified and individual organisms, emphasizing balancing the holistic development and interrelationship of the soil, plants, animals as a self-nourishing system without external input insofar as this is possible given the loss of nutrients due to the export of food.

This is my first real biodynamics class so I'm going into it with an open mind but after that description of the class, cant help but to have a tiny little voice in the base of my psyche telling me that it could be a lot of what these guys like to stuff into the bulls horns... (BS) We will see. I really hope to not be in an environment where everyone is wearing patchouli oil, rasta themed hemp clothing, and Jerusalem cruiser sandals while preaching drone hippie weirdness.

Random thought coming...

Come to think of it, if you have seen Avatar, I can imagine that James Cameron has some knowledge of the concepts of biodynamics as the picture drawn of Pandora was such of nature having both a spiritual and physical connection to all aspects of all living organisms.

Honestly though, there is something about biodynamics that interests me.
I hope to learn a little about the impacts and limitations of biodynamics in the winery too. In fact, if the class is not doing it for me, Ill try to slip away and corner the winemaker of Frey Vineyards to pick his brain for a while.

Saturday, January 9th
After attending the lecture I have come to the realization that this entry of my blog isn't going to answer a whole lot of questions that a person who is hungry for BD knowledge might be hoping to find. Hell, if you were to ask me what I learned about BD, I honestly dont think that I could tell you as I quickly learned that the lecture was quite advanced and probably not the best one to attend for a first go. For that reason, Ill simply share some of my observations, comments, and opinions on the day.


The moment I drove up I could tell that I wasn't going to fit in as well as I usually do in normal social gatherings. I titled this entry 'The Brotherhood of the Biodynamèèèk' largely due to the fact that almost every one of the people there knew each other, was overly excited to be seeing each other again, and all kinda looked like they were cut from the same cloth so to speak. Ill use bullet points to keep it as any detail into these would make for a very long blog entry. If there is any desire for me to go into any depth (assuming that I can) on any of these points, just make a request in the comments section:

• I smell patchouli, lots of hemp clothing...
• should not of worn my Lacoste shoes...
• general positive vibe in the room though as people filter in...
• Lots of Germans or people of German decent, and noticing that German accents tend to come out when people they realize that they are in the company of other Germans...
• I SMELL PATCHOULIII
• first comment from speaker, "if you think that I'm wrong, then you are right"...
• there are beings in nitrogen that have conscience and our conscience can communicate with that of the elements...
• mentioned that a lot of what would be mentioned in this lecture, when offered to professors or students of Davis, would be most likely result in blank stares and frustration due to the fact that, although much of what was to be said will be based off of the foundation of physics, much of which will also require that the physical be bonded and connected by the imagination and spiritual aspects of BD.
  
• products of UC Davis also, when hiring a BD consultant, tend to want a recipe for BD practices rather than fully releasing themselves to the full (cosmic) concept of BD... "so I put bull manure in a bull horn when? And I make a tea from this and that when?".
  
• the pattern or laws for the forces of the world are elemental...
• observe what you are observing actively as you move into a participatory role of observing...
• feeling like a day full of riddles and comments that are not direct but more of one way of saying something to which it's "true" meaning is always underlying...
• one down! First old man to literally fall out of his seat due to the fact that he fell asleep in his chair!
• seems to be a lot about imagination... need lots of it, admittedly, but it's exact imagination not fantasy imagination (what is the difference?)...
• during talk I hear muffled woooows, oohs, and ahhs as responses to some of the cosmic references. I ponder, what is it that I'm not hearing that they are??
• 2 down, second guy snoring aloud right in front of me!
• the soil is the child of the sun. Silica is indispensable for life...
• there is a man with a 3' long dreaded beard (he is also not wearing any shoes and it's cold and wet up here). Another guy who looks very Nordic is also bare footed. I don't smell the patchouli but the hippie feeling is still huge here. Almost all clothing looks organic, natural, rustic, and earth toned in color. Everyone seems to know each other here (except me), all smiles, and very agreeable to everything I've overheard said...
  
• there is no such thing as direction in space...
• light is the way in which energy is delivered from the cosmos...
• where is the hookah???
• the universe was sung (created) by the great creator. Speaking about how sound waves at certain frequencies, when displayed in a way that we can see it, create a pattern. He showed that there are many organisms in nature that have almost identical shapes to these sound wave patterns...
  
• all alcohols are solidified light... Huh?
• Rudolf Steiner had a PHD in physics...
• from every point that nature is leaking energy into nature, it is emanating from a single point and radiates out in a spherical wave. Like dew on a blade of grass...
• it all seems so fanciful, I wonder if there is a Dark Side of bd????
• "water is lights lover"...
• micro bubbles are interesting. Like when a boat propeller is turning under water and the small bubbles are formed, it's not bc of air being pulled down from the surface but rather from the O and H being pulled apart. When they pop, a vortex pierces from top to bottom of the bubble, the sound is equivalent to a 747 taking off in your back yard, and the temp spike is like 800° which is what causes the pitting or cavitation on the propeller blades. This relates to the idea that in BD, liquid teas and other preparations are created and in doing so they try to avoid this microscopically violent action from occurring as you create a situation of "digestion".
• I get a sense that there are very few people which separate the highly intelligent from the people that live in a van down by the river (not that they cant be intelligent too).
• this is something that definitely needs to be eased into as there is a huge amount of imaginary thinking that you need to buy into, that which would fall outside the comfort zone of the average bear...

Well, I made it to lunch and 4 hours is as far as I am willing to push myself so I decide to beam myself back to civilization. I was hoping to learn a little more about the foundation of BD but I guess that was wrong of me based on the description of the lecture and the fact that is was designed to be advanced. There were a few interesting nuggets that piqued my interest though... one of which was a reference to the macro and "cosmic" forces of the coastal tides (the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the rotation of the Earth and the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun) and why this phenomenon has importance to certain BD protocols. To me, this was something that I could actually grasp because I could actually witness it and I realize that the forces that would command such a massive effect could also have effects on things in nature OTHER than the.... ocean... Maybe there is something to this after all?? I do realize that to become an expert in these concepts would take YEARS and YEARS of dedicated study.




Stay tuned as Ill give Biodynamic lectures another go in the future. If you are interested in doing a little research on your own (for god sakes, dont rely on me for this!!) you can check out the Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oak, CA.

And remember, always, always, always... DRINK MORE MODUS!

Jason Moore, OUT!

Hi. My name is Jason, and I'm a Winemakaholic

Hi. My name is Jason Moore, and I'm a winemaker in Napa Valley. Wait a minute... I sometimes I have to pinch myself but...

IM A WINEMAKER IN NAPA VALLEY!!!!

This is my dream come true and I want to write about my experiences, clients, my feelings about my wines, my travels, my ongoing education, my mentors, my highs and my lows... I have about 40 topics that I'd like to blog about as it stands right now so if you will have me, I will do my best to keep it entertaining.

Why write a blog? I have been told by a countless number of my customers that they wish to GOD that they could quit their jobs and do what I do everyday.

What people don't realize is that its not the glamorous job that a lot of people think that it is! Quite honestly, there are times when the work comes so fast and furious that there is no time to eat, the days can be as long as 15 hours (or longer), our feet get so wet for so many hours that the skin on the bottom of the feet can be easily removed with a cheese grater (yep!), some of the chemicals that we deal with on a daily basis would make your esophagus and lungs clinch up tight enough to form a diamond / eyes watering / sneezing (violent reactions that your brain can not control), imagine being sticky from grape sugars from head to toe for hours on end (feels gross), our hands get so abused due to the cleaning chemicals that we use as well as the tannins and acids that the grapes posses that they literally crack open every time you open and close the hand (excruciating), and on, and on, and on. There is very often a false sense of celebrity status in that, when you walk thru the winery and the tasting room staff says, "there he is folks, the winemakerrrrrrr". It feels cool because the tasters seem to gush over you, but the second you or they walk out of the tasting room, you would have to remind them who you were/are because really... your name isn't James Cameron, Billy Idol, Vincent Chase, or even Clay Aiken!!!! OUCH!!
And worst of all... sometimes the thing that you have poured your heart and soul into just doesn't turn out as you had hoped. And sometimes the person drinking it just-doesn't-like-it and even though, as a winemaker, you have to understand that you cant please all of the pallets all of the time, IT STILL HURTS.

But don't let me make it seem all bad... its pretty awesome really...

• Winemaker dinners are quite flattering.
  
• It doesn't suck to say to a person that you just met "What do I do for a living? Well, I'm a Winemaker in Napa Valley".
  
• There's usually plenty of wine to drink... (just sayin').
  
• We are 'kind of' like teachers in that we work our asses off during the school year (harvest) and then we have a 'bit' of a break where things relax a little although there are bottlings, blends, and selling to manage between harvests.
• Writing your own schedule, as many people will tell you, is AWESOME!
• And best of all, the feeling when a REALLY good score comes your way is absolutely amazing. Like sacking the hottest girl in school. Like when your daughter tells you that she loves you for the first time UN-PROMPTED. Like anything that would validate your purpose in life and thus speak to some sort of victory relating to the idea of of your ultimate passion and goals. You are walking around town with a popped collar for WEEKS!
  

There are two types of Winemakers though... those that work for a single winery as a 9 to 5 vs. the Consulting Winemaker who has many clients. Some consultants are more involved and practice the actual "act"of winemaking whereas others simply write work orders and thus rely on the winery staff to see things through. I have been fortunate enough to be able to both have multiple clients AND actually do the majority of the wine work for both my own brand (Modus Operandi Cellars) and my clients (Poem Cellars, Troubadour, Cielo Malibu Estate, Coleman Nicole Wines, and Ashton Lockett / Littauer).

I say this all the time to the people that taste wine with me...

"Winemaking is an art that is SUPPORTED by science, NOT the other way around".
(but that's just because I didn't go to Davis (just kidding (but really, I didn't go to Davis(but I really feel this way))))
MOST (not all) of us do it because we love it.

OK, we'll start with that. Ill continue with some random thoughts (I am extremely dyslexic) as well as more focused topics in the very near future. One thing is for sure... you will be getting me, my personality, my humor, and my passion every single time I feel the need to write for you.
Be sure to tell your friends about my blog. And please, let me know what you think.

P.S. I do not make any representations to my accuracy of grammar, spelling, punctuation, or proper context. It is what it is and you should be able to understand what I'm saying.
Until next time...
Drink more MODUS!