One American winemaking family believes exceptional wine doesn’t require shortcuts.

After decades of quiet persistence in their trade, global recognition recently arrived for Maysara Winery, located in the rolling hills of Oregon wine country. It currently ranks as the No. 23 vineyard worldwide.

“We were informed we were chosen [to be among] the top 50 vineyards in the world,” founder Moe Momtazi told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

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His middle daughter, Naseem Momtazi, president of sales, said, “You can have beautiful American-made, quality-made wines coming from an actual family, an actual farm and an actual story.”

The winery has partnered with the Fox News Wine Shop on a 2017 pinot noir.

Even so, when Moe Momtazi talks about his life, he starts not in Oregon — but in the turmoil of post-revolution Iran. His story of escape, new life in America and, ultimately, a winemaking philosophy rooted in heritage and health, became the foundation for Maysara Winery.

Though he came to the U.S. in 1971 to study engineering, his life took a dramatic spin after he returned to Iran in the late 1970s. “Things got pretty ugly” amid the 1979 revolution, he said.

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“So, in 1982, myself, with my wife — she was eight months pregnant — we escaped from Iran,” Momtazi continued, recalling his “difficult journey” to the U.S. by way of Pakistan, Spain, Italy and Mexico.

The new parents finally arrived in 1983 and initially settled in Texas, where Momtazi applied for political asylum and returned to civil engineering. But farming was his long-term dream.

Middle daughter Naseem recalled her father’s interest in farming.

“I remember as a kid, he would just buy small parcels when he could, because they didn’t have much when they came to the United States,” she told Fox News Digital. “With whatever he could save, he would buy land.”

In 1990, Momtazi left engineering and moved his family to Oregon. Seven years later, the family purchased an abandoned wheat farm that would become their winery’s home. 

“It was my mission to farm holistically.”

Today, the property spans roughly 563 acres of “amazing elevation,” daughter Naseem said.

Momtazi’s wife and all three daughters work at the winery.

‘Need to produce better’

From the beginning, Momtazi envisioned a farm built on biodynamic agriculture.

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“It was my mission to farm holistically and just not to use any kind of material from outside,” he said.

The method, grounded in the early 20th-century teachings of Rudolf Steiner, emphasizes natural cycles and soil vitality.

One such unconventional method involves filling cow horns with manure and burying them in the ground.

Naseem Momtazi summed it up as “the most natural, holistic way to produce wine.”

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She added, “We do need to produce and consume better as people,” tying the winery’s methods to broader concerns about modern food production.

Moe Momtazi is even more uncompromising about how wine should be made.

“We absolutely do not manipulate our wine… no use of commercial yeast or enzymes or adjusting acidity or adding sugar,” he said.

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Some customers have told them that their “wine is medicine,” Naseem said, reflecting the differences between Maysara wines and heavily processed wines.

“If you drink too much, you’re going to get drunk,” she added. “But if you consume a moderate amount of our wine, I truly do say that you’re not going to get the same effects.… So much wine is manipulated.”

American-made wine

A defining trait of Maysara wines is that they’re aged far longer than most American wines, the family said. 

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“We truly believe in holding back the wines and releasing [them] when ready,” Naseem Momtazi said — noting that Maysara wines aren’t released chronologically. 

“That is not a natural concept for American wine,” she said. 

Learn more about the Fox News Wine Shop here. 

It’s another packed night at La Cigale in San Francisco, where chef Joseph Magidow works the hearth like a conductor, each dish part of a high-end Southern French feast for the fifteen diners lucky enough to score a front-row seat. 

It feels like the beginning of any great night out, until you realize this restaurant has quietly removed the part of dining that usually causes the most indigestion.

“You get to the end and all of a sudden you have this check and it’s like a Spirit Airlines bill where it’s like plus this plus plus that,” Magidow said.

So La Cigale made a rare move: they “86ed” the surprise charges, restaurant-speak for taking something off the menu. Dinner here is all-inclusive at $140 per person, but with no tax, no tip, no service fees. Just the price on the menu and that’s the price you pay.

“There’s no tip line on the check. When you sign the bill, that’s the end of the transaction,” Magidow said. 

Though still rare, across the country, more restaurants are test-driving tip-free dining, a pushback against what many now call “tip-flation.” A recent survey found 41% of Americans think tipping has gotten out of control.

La Cigale customer, Jenny Bennett, said that while she believes in tipping, she liked the idea of waiters being paid a fair wage. 

“Everywhere you go, even for the smallest little item, they’re flipping around the little iPad,” she said. 

At La Cigale, servers make about $40 an hour whether the night is slow or slammed. The upside is stability. The downside? No big-tip windfalls. 

But for server and sommelier Claire Bivins, it was a trade she was happy to take.

“It creates a little bit of a sense of security for everyone and definitely takes a degree of pressure off from each night,” she said. 

The stability doesn’t end there. La Cigale offers paid vacation, a perk most restaurant workers only dream of.

For Magidow, ditching tips also means leaving behind a system rooted in America’s painful past.

“It was a model that was created to take former enslaved people, who many of them went into the hospitality industry, after slavery and put them in a position where they are still being controlled by the guest.”

And as for the bottom line? It hasn’t taken a hit. 

“It seems like everyone is leaving happy,” Magidow said. “That’s really all we can hope for.”

DENVER (KKTV) – A man out of Louisiana suspected of child rape is now in custody in Colorado.

The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force said they arrested 43-year-old James Connolly Tuesday morning in Denver.

The U.S. Marshals Service said Connolly was wanted by West Baton Rouge Parish deputies for first-degree rape of a child under 13 years old.

According to the U.S. Marshals, a full-scale investigation into the allegation was launched, and probable cause was found to file charges.

After an arrest warrant was issued on August 12, they said Connolly was likely aware of the warrant and had fled the state.

On Monday, officials reportedly received information that he could be in Denver. The next day, the U.S. Marshals Service said the Colorado Violent Offender Task Force found Connolly working maintenance for a company near I-270 and York Street in Denver under the name “Alli” with a changed physical appearance.

Officials said Connolly was then positively identified and taken into custody.

“The success of this arrest represents a culmination of extensive cooperative investigative efforts between the U.S. Marshals in Baton Rouge, U.S. Marshals Colorado Violent Offender Task Force – Denver, West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office, Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Englewood Police Department, and Colorado Department of Corrections,” the U.S. Marshals Service said in a release.

He’s currently in the Adams County Jail pending extradition back to Louisiana.

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