Modus Operandi Cellars
Center of Gravity Sauvignon Blanc
Rutherford, Napa Valley, California, USA
I’m a fan of the Modus wines and Jason, but think he excels when he experiments (like his Antithesis red). What makes this unique is the transferring of their single-vineyard Sauvignon Blanc from barrel to tank for bottling, then combining the yeast lees from all 10 barrels back into two new French oak barrels from the vintage. Then, it’s reintroduced to the newly homogenized wine from the tank into the barrels with the 10x yeast lees for an extra 1.5 years of aging.
Almost three years since my last one, and not much has changed. The signature of this wine is the creamy mouthfeel. This is in the vein of many “Super SauvBlancs” but where it differs is that it doesn’t go too overboard in how tropical/sweet it is (still has a tropical vibe though). White peach, underripe pineapple, honeysuckle on the nose. Great texture on the palate with salted lemon cream, pear, and a vein of mineral/limestone poking through with the acidity. Mouthfeel goes on even after the last drop. Will cruise for a few more years, but this is in the zone right now.
His ‘20 is on sale at the moment…for $45, it’s a wonderful QPR.
I’m a fan of the Modus wines and Jason, but think he excels when he experiments (like his Antithesis red). What makes this unique is the transferring of their single-vineyard Sauvignon Blanc from barrel to tank for bottling, then combining the yeast lees from all 10 barrels back into two new French oak barrels from the vintage. Then, it’s reintroduced to the newly homogenized wine from the tank into the barrels with the 10x yeast lees for an extra 1.5 years of aging.
Almost three years since my last one, and not much has changed. The signature of this wine is the creamy mouthfeel. This is in the vein of many “Super SauvBlancs” but where it differs is that it doesn’t go too overboard in how tropical/sweet it is (still has a tropical vibe though). White peach, underripe pineapple, honeysuckle on the nose. Great texture on the palate with salted lemon cream, pear, and a vein of mineral/limestone poking through with the acidity. Mouthfeel goes on even after the last drop. Will cruise for a few more years, but this is in the zone right now.
His ‘20 is on sale at the moment…for $45, it’s a wonderful QPR.
I found this to be very similar to the Crescere in that the aroma was intoxicating and exotic. The palate was complex and layered. While this had more of a wispy mouthfeel, I loved it for its honeycomb and passion fruit notes, which played off light acidity.
Only one barrel produced, so it may be easier to find rocking horse shit!
From @David L and Kristen’s cellar. Can’t thank you guys enough!
I found this to be very similar to the Crescere in that the aroma was intoxicating and exotic. The palate was complex and layered. While this had more of a wispy mouthfeel, I loved it for its honeycomb and passion fruit notes, which played off light acidity.
Only one barrel produced, so it may be easier to find rocking horse shit!
From @David L and Kristen’s cellar. Can’t thank you guys enough!