76 South Bay Accent CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PAUL SAKUMA; COURTESY OF CLOS DE LA TECH (2); DAN SULLIVAN; COURTESY OF CLOS DE LA TECH; CHIP ALLEN DRIVEN FROM THE GET-GO Thurman John Rodgers is one of the valley’s quintessential tech figures, a selfmade multimillionaire who rarely elicits neutral reactions in the business community. Liberal journalists have called him things like “the bad boy of Silicon Valley” for his outspoken belief in Ayn Randian capitalism and the wrongness of protectionist government policies. Originally from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Rodgers inherited his love of science from his mother, Lois Louise Rodgers, who had a master’s degree in radio electronics. Relentless in achieving goals, he played nose guard on both his high school and Dartmouth football teams even though, at 5 feet, 8 inches tall, he was one of the smallest players. Nor did he slow down after arriving at Stanford, inventing and patenting an important semiconductor technology before graduating. Ask Rodgers a question and be prepared for a long, complex, minutely detailed answer—like a science textbook written by Henry James. When it comes to wine, he might dive into topics like tannin management, leaf pulling, a natural sunscreen in grapes called quercitin and countless other viticulture and enology subjects, explaining precisely, in depth and with copious statistics until the question’s answer finally emerges. Given his current body of knowledge, it’s interesting to note that, “The only wine I’d had, honest to god, when I got out of Dartmouth when I was 21, was Ripple or sangria,” Rodgers admits. Later, as a valley up-and-comer, he was reluctantly talked into trying a case of different French wines by a local wine shop. Like many CEOs, Rodgers makes decisions quickly, then he’s all in. That’s what happened when he first sampled a French red Burgundy in that fateful mixed case. “I fell in love with Burgundy, and that became my wine,” he recalls. So when it came time to landscape around the home he had built in Woodside in 1992, he opted for an acre of pinot noir grapes rather than decorative plantings. With assistance from a local winery and best-of-breed consultants, Rodgers’ home vineyard began producing wine in 1996. Only two vintages among the first five were good enough to share; before Clos de la Tech’s first commercial vintage of 2000, Rodgers gave the acceptable vintages away “to my CEO buddies,” he says. Nevertheless, the wine bug had bitten him so deeply that he was ready to expand. “I saw the kind of complexity—I would use the word interdisciplinary requirements—in wine that I saw in electronics. That’s what drew me to it and got me passionate about it,” he explains.
South Bay Accent - Aug/Sep 2014
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