How I Escaped The Islamist Regime In Iran ...And Started A Winery In America

Moe Momtazi’s Maysara Winery and his Momtazi Vineyard now sprawl across 532 acres of rolling Oregon hills. His pinot noirs get great reviews, and his grapes are coveted by the region’s top wine makers. It all started with some inspiration from his ancestors— and fleeing Islamist Iran.

- Jane Porter

MOE MOMTAZI/MAYSARA WINERY

Darker Times

An unidentified woman, armed with a G3 battle rifle, who was part of the forces occupying Tehran University on February 12, 1979—one day after Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamist revolution took over Iran’s government.

From when I was very young, I remember watching my father make wine in our basement. He used earthen vessels to store the wine. There was a clay paste that he would cover the top with and leave it to sit. Then he would get all the stems and berries out and press everything. What intrigues me is the care that went into it. In Persian and Zoroastrian culture, wine is considered a very sacred thing.

I was born and raised in Tehran. My parents would send me up north to the Caspian Sea to spend the summer with my grandparents. My grandfather taught me about holistic farming—he had a tea plantation and a rice plantation and grew mulberry trees for silkworms—and that our life really depends on what we consume.

I was fascinated with farming. But if you start with farming, you’ll never make it. I wanted to get an education so I could buy land. In 1971, I came to the U.S. to study engineering at the University of Texas. After I graduated, I went back home. I worked as a project engineer, and then opened my own engineering company.