Moe Momtazi is the founder and owner of Maysara Winery, Momtazi Vineyard, and Tecna Industries, located in McMinnville, Willamette Valley, Oregon. Born and raised in Iran, Moe moved to the United States in the 1970s, earning a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. In 1997, he purchased 496 acres in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, establishing Momtazi Vineyard in 1997 and later Maysara Winery in 2000. Moe has dedicated his life commitment to biodynamic farming and has become a pioneer in holistic viticulture and winemaking in the Oregon wine industry. Media Inquiries: moe@maysara.com | https://www.maysara.com/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your brand?
Since I purchased the original 496-acre plot of abandoned property in 1997, one thing that has made my family’s Maysara brand unique has been our dedication to developing our property into a self-sustaining ecosystem that our businesses are a functioning part of. I remember being called crazy for planning to farm this amount of land without the use of chemicals and minerals so many years ago, but I believe wholeheartedly that by farming in accordance with nature and fostering diversity of both plants and animals across the property, our farm can provide all that it needs to sustain itself from within. When you think about how much the terroir of a vineyard affects the flavors of a finished wine, we want to be sure the unique characteristics that make our property special are what you taste in the glass instead of changing the flavors of the wine to fit a specific winemaking style.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
Through hard work and investment to grow biodiversity across our property, we’ve developed this site to contain two reservoirs, domesticated animals, 260 acres of planted vines, a mix of fruit and nut trees, meadows, creeks, and forested areas. In the last three years, I’ve also designated 95 acres of the property to Conservation Projects by working with our employees to clear out non-native plants and return the acreage to native oak savannah habitat. Being a steward of the land has always been very important to me and I started this approach because I wanted to show others that you can produce world-class wines while at the same time taking care of the land without the use of chemicals and added minerals.
While my journey in holistic farming began with grapes and winemaking, if there were no financial constraints to worry about, I would expand our operations into growing different food crops in the same holistic manner we grow our grapes. Young people are growing up in a world where they are paying for the mistakes made by previous generations regarding the quality of our food system and the number of chemicals and man-made poisons that are legally allowed to be used in the food-growing process. Due to the food labeling laws in the United States, we’ve become disconnected from the foods we consume and are not well educated about the effects of the chemicals that enter our bodies through conventionally produced food products.
I would love to produce fruit, vegetable, and animal products and provide the younger generation with local access to holistically grown products free of charge. It is the younger generation that is having a hard time being able to afford healthy food and drink despite being the generation that supports environmental initiatives. They care about the chemicals and additives going into the foods and drinks they consume and I believe that everyone should have access to contamination-free food that will enrich their health. If the laws surrounding our standards of food in the United States were to change, we would see a decrease in many of the common physical and mental health issues our society is experiencing today.
What is the One Wine most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
When it comes to choosing one wine that is most emblematic of our brand and winemaking philosophy, it would undoubtedly be Asha. The name “Asha” translates to “good words, good thoughts, good demeanor,” reflecting the Zoroastrian ideal of living with integrity and purpose. In our tradition, calling someone “Asha” signifies that they possess good karma and a clear conscience—qualities that align perfectly with the core values of our winery and its people.
Asha is more than a wine; it’s a representation of our ethos. In 2007 when my eldest daughter Tahmiene became our head winemaker she started the label with the goal of every bottle embodying the harmony, care, and commitment that define our approach to winemaking. It captures the spirit of our journey—a celebration of resilience, sustainability, and the pursuit of excellence. Choosing Asha as our “Desert Island” wine is an homage to the ideals that inspire us daily and a testament to the legacy we strive to uphold. Read my review of the “Asha” Pinot Noir.
What’s the one thing people would be surprised to learn about you?
I think something that people would find surprising about me is how much time I spend researching and studying the properties and effects of different plants and weeds we have growing on our property. There is a reason that these plants are here but over many generations, we’ve forgotten the knowledge and understanding that humanity used to have about how to positively use these plants to benefit our ecosystems. After the Industrial Revolution, humanity went down a path of attempting to control Mother Nature by forcing desirable yields from their farms (regardless of growing season variables) through the use of fertilizers and chemicals. In the process, we lost the instinctual understanding of how all of the plants in our ecosystems are interconnected. I’ve spent much of my life studying the interactions and connectedness of nature in order to pass on my knowledge to the younger generation in the hopes of helping create a better and healthier future for generations to come.