Clos de la Tech

Clos de la Tech was founded in 1994 by T.J. Rodgers and Valeta Massey. Clos de la Tech focuses on producing highly limited Pinot Noirs at their three California vineyards. T.J. is from the semiconductor business and places one of his silicon chips on every bottle to represent the ‘Tech’ in Clos de la Tech.

The 32-hectare (80-acre) Domaine Lois Louise vineyards are located 518 meters (1700 feet) above sea level, in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The location is remote but also a paradise for growing Pinot Noir grapes. Three wine caves were constructed at Domaine Lois Louise to make the wine, with vineyards and irrigation, 10 meters (30 feet) above the caves.

Solution

The three caves were blasted into the hillside and finished with architectural shotcrete with a faux rock finish. Kryton’s Concrete Waterproofing System was used to waterproof the wine caves because a traditional membrane system would not work. Kryton’s Krystol Internal Membrane (KIM) concrete waterproofing admixture was added directly to the shotcrete mix to create the 45-60 cm (18-24 in.) walls that formed the huge wine caves. Waterproofing was essential as the vineyard and irrigation was only 10 meters (30 feet) above the caves where their carefully crafted Pinot Noir’s were being made.

The three caves were carefully dug one meter (four feet) at a time and immediately reinforced with shotcrete to prevent cave-ins. Unfortunately this approach was not successful and there were two cave-ins during construction. The cave-ins vented all the way to the surface and tore two nine meter (30 feet) in diameter holes in the vineyard. Kryton’s KIM was used as an injection fill system to fill the two holes caused by the cave-ins.

In all more than 2000 cubic yards of concrete were treated with KIM. The project also used Kryton’s Krystol T1 & T2 Waterproofing System Surface Applied System for the office areas and the Krystol Crack Repair System in the main tunnels.