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CLOS LACHANCE
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Owners | |
| Winemaker | |
| Address | 1 Hummingbird Lane, San Martin |
| Phone | (408) 686-1050 |
| Web Site | http://www.closlachance.com |
| cheryl@clos.com | |
| First Vintage | 1992 |
| Current Production | 60,000-80,000 |
Background
Bill Murphy was an executive at Hewlett-Packard until he retired in 2000. In 1987, Bill and Brenda were landscaping their 1.25 acre garden in Saratoga and decided to plant a few rows of Chardonnay. A few years later, the wines produced from this small backyard vineyard were good enough to sell to the public and so Clos LaChance was formed into a full fledged winery. The first commercially released wines were from the 1992 vintage; 500 cases were produced and bottled at Cinnabar. Over the following decade they shared production space with several Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Clara County wineries, including Roudon-Smith,Savannah-Chanelleand Mirassou.
In 1999, Clos LaChance planted an 85 acre vineyard adjacent to the Cordevalle golf course in San Martin; construction on the winery began shortly after and was officially opened in 2002. The winery also manages an additional 80 acres of vineyard surrounding Cordevalle Vineyard Estates residential community near to the winery. Bill and Brenda also went on to establish a vineyard maintenance and installation company specializing in "back-yard" vineyard development throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation. CK Vines, named after the Murphy's two daughters, manages 30 acres of backyard vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountain and Santa Clara Valley AVAs from which the winery also sources fruit.