Chateau Felice

It truly was love at first sight when Barry and Phyllis Rodgers drove through the gate off Chalk Hill Road. The olive trees, the lush meadows, the lakes and the hills, even the abandoned buildings, all captivated their imagination. That June day in 1997, Chateau Felice was conceived.

Over the following months, the Rodgers family set to work on the overgrown, unkempt cattle ranch. They re-established roads, dredged and cleaned the lakes, removed dilapidated buildings, and cleared away the poison oak that covered the landscape. By 1998, the land was ready for planting 20,000 vines on 24 acres.

Chateau Felice is located in the northwestern Sonoma Valley, and is one of only three wineries in the Chalk Hill appellation. The winery farms six different varieties of grapes and always at a controlled, low yield. This allows Chateau Felice to produce small lots of great-tasting Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel, Syrah, and Chardonnay.

The philosophy at Chateau Felice is simple: great wines are made in the vineyards. Allowing the real essence of the grapes to come through provides true varietal character in the aromas and flavors of each wine.

Chateau Felice winery is blessed with a rare geography and climate for producing remarkable grapes. This fabulous winery has nine different blocks of vineyards, each with a different exposure.

The orientation of the hills at Chateau Felice encourages the influx of cool coastal air in the morning and evening. The vines are trellised to allow maximum exposure to the breezes, while shielding the grapes from the hottest of the sun’s rays.

Lower yield helps ensure quality fruit, so Chateau Felice prunes excess fruit throughout the growing season. Vines that are damaged or ripening unevenly are removed. The remaining grapes, only the best, go to be crushed.

Harvest 2005 was the fifth estate harvest and the seventh crush at Chateau Felice. Barry and Phyllis Rogers are still directly involved in every aspect of the winery and they recently welcomed their daughter Genevieve as winemaker. She has already won numerous medals, ribbons and honors for her outstanding Chateau Felice wines.