From software in the cellar to GPS -equipped tractors, Clos
LaChance is wired
It’s often said the good winemaking is a combination of art and science. But when it comes to Clos LaChance’s Bill Murphy, the pairing is more like a marriage.
The days of barefoot maidens stomping the juice from grapes is yielding to winemakers such as Murphy, a retired Hewlett-Packard Corp. executive who counts on the juice running through his personal computers to make his premium wines.
“I don’t have hundreds and hundreds of years,” said Murphy, who has installed several high tech tools of the wine trade at his Clos LaChance winery in San Martin. “The technology allows you to learn and understand about the terroir faster.” (Terroir is a French word meaning the characteristics that a specific geographic location lends to a food product such as wine.)
From software in the cellar to GPS-equipped tractors in the vineyard, Clos LaChance is wired, enabling Murphy a shorter learning curve.
“It’s the big guy upstairs that’s still in charge of all this stuff,” he added, casting in the light of a high-tech serenity prayer. “Our idea is to be able to learn about it as fast as we can, to measure as many things as we can, to control the things we can control and understand the things we can’t control.”
Blending tech and agriculture
For Murphy blending vines and binary systems was a natural step when he built Clos LaChance next to CordeValle just outside of San Martin. Indeed, Murphy brings with him an entire first career in technology, having retired in 2000 as HP’s director of Internet marketing. He was the creator of the marketing tagline “Laser Jet” printer.
So it’s little surprise that he installed probes that transmit data on humidity, rainfall and wind speed into a computer system, showing how vines are faring and how they may be affected by weather conditions.
In the cellar, software tracks the fruit from vineyard to bottle, streamlining record-keeping and making it easier to calculate and identify blends. Computers also allow winemaker Stephen Tebb to program fermentation cycles by controlling the temperature in each tank.
“It’s great,” says Tebb. “The winemaking industry, in California particularly, is all about using the best tools applied to an old-world technique.”
What science can do is help with things like deciding when and where to irrigate.
Conformia Software Inc. makes the grape-tracking software Murphy uses at Clos LaChance.
“Just seeing the innovations of the last four years is incredible,” said Conformia co-founder Neil Kataria.
Conformia’s WinePRO software tracks grapes from the vineyard block where they were picked, noting characteristics such as variety and sugar levels, known as Brix, and follows the fruit all the way to the bottle.
Proponents of vine tech like their clicks-and-Brix approach, but say winemaking involves as much art as science. For example, Murphy can get real-time soil data on his computer, but still likes to kick the dirt himself to see if things are in balance.
Tractors carry another bit of vineyard wizardry, computers equipped with global positioning satellite technology that signal the driver just when cultivating equipment should be engaged to create a more uniform vineyard. (Weaker areas are cultivated to get rid of weeds, while grass is left where vines are strongest to reduce growth.)
Putting some byte in their grapes seems to be working out, Clos LaChance has picked up a number of medals and was named one of 10 U.S. “Wineries to Watch” in Food and Wine magazine.
A family affair
In 1987, Murphy and his wife Brenda decided to plant a few rows of chardonnay in their Saratoga backyard for landscaping purposes and to realize their dreams of being vintners.
A few years later, the wines produced from this small backyard vineyard were good enough to sell to the public and friends of the Murphys. It was at this point that Clos LaChance formed into a full fledged winery, with the first commercially released wines originating from the winery’s 1992 vintage.
San Martin was chosen as the site of the estate because of an ideal business collaboration and because of the historic wine-growing attributes of the little valley tucked into the foothills west of San Martin, Murphy said.
During the planning process for CordeValle, the use permit required the upscale golf course to preserve open space. CordeValle management was looking for someone to operate vineyards at the same time the Murphys wanted to expand their operations.
A mutual acquaintance made the introductions and the rest is history.
What’s in a name?
Clos LaChance takes its name from the small fenced-in area encompassing a vineyard (in French, a clos) and from Brenda Murphy’s maiden name.
Today, Bill Murphy serves as the co-founder and chief executive, and Brenda Murphy works as a co-founder and president of the company. Their oldest daughter, Cheryl Murphy Durzy, heads up sales and marketing, while youngest daughter Kristin Murphy is the director of events and runs a subsidiary called CK Vines.
Oh, and there’s Amber, the Winery Dog, who’s primary responsibilities include eating and sleeping, but will sometimes venture into the arenas of barking at visitors and chewing up squeaky toys.
Another less furry friend of the Murphys is the flighty little hummingbird, the symbol that adorns each bottle of their wine for both its aesthetic beauty and its ability to keep other birds away from the grapes.
Home-grown wine grapes
In 1996, in order to ensure a continuing supply of high quality fruit, Bill and Brenda Murphy established CK Vines, a vineyard maintenance and installation company specializing in “back-yard” vineyard development throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation.
Several small vineyards of an acre or two created by CK Vines are growing in Gilroy and Morgan Hill. CK specializes in developing and managing small vineyards that are typically below the radar of the large vineyard development firms.
CK Vines is named after the Murphy’s two daughters (Cheryl and Kristin). CK Vines manages 50 acres of backyard vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountain and Central Coast wine-growing regions, called AVAs for American Viticultural Regions.
An added benefit, Murphy said, is providing the winery with a supply of high quality fruit. With 50 acres under production, CK has the potential to contribute an additional 200 tons of premium wine grapes.
The estate wines in San Martin tend to be more of the Bordeaux varietals that do better in warmer climates, such as merlot, cabernet, sarah and zinfindel grapes. In the cooler mountain areas that CK Vines manages, Burgundy region wines are produced from the grapes, such as pinot noir and chardonnay.
“Drink up,” Murphy said. “We have plenty.”
Contact Clos La Chance
To order wine via telephone:
1-800-ITS WINE
Questions about an order?
ad***@cl**.com
Clos LaChance office:
Voice: (408) 686-1050
Fax: (408) 686-1052
Mailing address:
1 Hummingbird Lane, San Martin, CA 95046
Winery dog:
Amber (Available only by pager)
Events:
kr*****@cl**.com
Tasting Room and Retail:
do*****@cl**.com
Sales and Marketing:
ch****@cl**.com
Winemaking:
st*****@cl**.com
Vineyards:
be*@cl**.com
General Operations:
cl*****@cl**.com
Wine Club:
ci***@cl**.com
Owners:
bi**@cl**.com or br****@cl**.com
