Clos de la Tech

Clos de la Tech is founded by a semiconductor pioneer- T.J. Rodgers, the CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, who has a passion for Pinot Noir. In the mid-1990’s he travelled to Burgundy to visit and study the winemaking techniques at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) with owner-manager Aubert de Villaine. When he returned to California, he purchased and planted a 1-acre vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, South of San Francisco Bay and started producing his own wine - Domaine du Dr Rodgers. Clos de la Tech can be described as the American version of DRC and produces around 1,200 bottles of single varietal Pinot Noir annually.

The "tech" part of the name is a reference to the owner’s tech background and the silicon chips on the neck of every Clos de la Tech bottle, two real silicon memory chips with 1.02 billion transistors on them are on each bottle. “Clos” is French which refers to exclusivity and Grand Cru Vineyard, “Tech” implies technology. Now the vineyard comprises with 150-hectare of land, producing 3 wines: San Francisco Bay Pinot Noir Domaine du Dr. Rodgers, Domaine Valeta, named after Rodgers’ business partner Valeta Massey and Domaine Lois Louise. The 3 wines are all plated, brewed and bottled by the winery itself, because of limited production, it’s difficult to buy the wines from the market and many people would pre-order their favorite wines every year.