T.J. Rodgers needs winery permit T.J. Rodgers needs winery permit (March 16, 2005)

By Marion Softky

Almanac Staff Writer

T.J. Rodgers of Woodside has one more barrier to cross before he can pursue his plan to produce and bottle world-class pinot noir at his Clos de la Tech Winery west of Skyline Boulevard. He still needs a permit from San Mateo County to operate the winery and make wine.

And before the permit comes an environmental impact report (EIR) to analyze the impacts of the proposed winery on the environment. The county Board of Supervisors on March 1 authorized a contract with Environmental Science Associates (ESA) to perform the study. Mr. Rodgers must pay its cost of $191,615.

Many of the winery's environmental impacts have already taken place under a county grading permit approved in 2002.

Since then, Mr. Rodgers, who is founder, president and CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, has been developing a vineyard and winery on 173 acres, two miles down Langley Hill Road, west of Skyline Boulevard -- just above the small community of Cuesta La Honda.

Mr. Rodgers' dream is to produce the best pinot noir in the world. His vineyard is already producing grapes cloned from the best French pinot noir grapes, he said. These are held at the University of Dijon in France.

However, actual construction of the winery, which is to be located inside three caves drilled 300 feet into the hillside, went awry two years ago. Work crews, drilling into the benign-looking coastal hillside, encountered basalt rock from an ancient volcano.

Months of dynamite blasts to create the caves upset neighbors for miles around. At one point a big rock was blown up in a tunnel, creating a sinkhole 30 feet in diameter in the vineyard above.

Now the three tunnels that will allow the winery to operate completely underground are complete, the new grapes are producing, and Mr. Rodgers needs a permit to start making wine.

So far Mr. Rodgers and his partner, Valeta Massey, have trucked their grapes to other local wineries, such as Woodside Vineyards and Obester Winery, for a "custom crush." This year's harvest of 20 tons of grapes yielded five barrels of wine, he said.
Impact report

The environmental impact report process will take most of a year and provide ample opportunity for disgruntled people to have their say.

Environmental Science Associates will start the process by holding "scoping meetings," possibly in April, to ask the public what issues need to be addressed in the EIR. These meetings will be followed by environmental studies of impacts, ranging from noise and transportation to water and views.

A draft EIR will be subject to review and public hearings, followed by more study, a final EIR, and more public hearings.

One key issue to be addressed is water. Residents of Cuesta La Honda fear the winery and vineyards directly above them may affect both the quantity and quality of the water in Woodhams Creek and the springs that provide their community water supply.

"The hillside is very steep," said Janet Clark of the Cuesta La Honda Guild. "We are concerned about the possible use of pesticides and the potential for sedimentation."

Mr. Rodgers said that laboratory tests over three years showed zero contaminants in that water. "It's perfect," he said.

Another issue may be Mr. Rodgers' request for a zoning change to allow him to produce 13,000 cases of wine a year. The county's present limit of 2,500 is based on the limit requested for the Obester Winery in Half Moon Bay years ago, he said.

Mr. Rodgers argued that 13,000 cases is small compared with other wineries. In Napa Valley, a boutique winery makes 20,000 cases a year, and a large winery can make over a million. And Thomas Fogarty across Skyline Boulevard in Portola Valley is licensed for 20,000 cases, he said. "Thirteen thousand sounds like a big number, but not in wine land."

Someday, Mr. Rodgers hopes to retire to Clos de la Tech. "I'm going to live up there, and grow grapes, and be a wine guy," he said.

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