TJ & Valeta
TJ Rodgers, Owner and CWO
TJ Rodgers is the owner and chief winemaking officer for Clos de la Tech, making wine since 1996. He founded Cypress Semiconductor in 1982 and holds patents ranging from semiconductors to energy to winemaking. He is a former chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). TJ was a Sloan scholar at Dartmouth, where he graduated as Salutatorian with a double major in physics and chemistry and later served as a Trustee Emeriti. He attended Stanford University on a Hertz fellowship, earning a master’s degree (1973) and a Ph.D. (1975) in electrical engineering.
Valeta Rodgers, Owner and Winemaker
Valeta studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley. Early in her college years she took a job at Cypress Semiconductor, eventually becoming a senior SRAM design engineer. Her passion for wine was kindled in the 1990s during a tour of Burgundy with husband TJ. They tasted at some of the region’s top wineries including Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (with Aubert de Villaine), Domaine de l’Arlot, Domaine Méo-Camuzetand, and Domaine Dujac. The experience profoundly affected her life and Clos de la Tech’s viticultural and enological practices.
TJ and Valeta live in Woodside, California with their Jack Russell Terriers, Brett and Elvis.