Welcome. This is an invitation to access Clos de la Tech, the rarest and finest Pinot Noir in America.

I am T.J. Rodgers, the CEO of Cypress Semiconductor. My PhD is in semiconductor physics. In my world, invention creates advantage.

So, it’s interesting that my passion to make the “New World’s Best Pinot Noir” has sent me down another path: one which honors old world techniques, deference to nature’s whims and minimal intervention. Passion, it seems, takes patience.

Clos de la Tech’s premiere one-acre vineyard, Domaine du Docteur Rodgers, yields only 100 cases of handcrafted Pinot Noir annually. Even the CEOs on my mailing list are allocated only four bottles yearly. It’s not arrogance; it’s just reality.

Now, finally, nine years after planting, wine from our second vineyard, Domaine Valeta, so high in the Santa Cruz Mountains that it gets snow, is ready to be released. This vineyard, named for my wife, who is also Clos de la Tech’s winemaker, produces a dark and perfumed wine from certified Burgundian Pinot Noir clones. It represents the best possible confluence of terroir, climate and viticulture.

We are now able to offer wine aficionados at large a first allocation: one bottle from Domaine du Docteur Rodgers and two from Domaine Valeta. If you “exercise your options,” as we say in Silicon Valley, you can taste the New World’s finest Pinot Noir, the consummation over a decade of diligent effort, fidelity to the best traditions, and, yes, some invention.

TJ Rodgers, Owner and Operator

To learn about Clos de la Tech’s philosophy of winemaking—and to be added to our list for the fall 2009 allocation—please fill out the information below. We do not share our e-mail list, and we write to our e-mail list sparingly, but when we do, we make certain that the notes are personally written and are useful and informative.