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It truly was love at first sight when Barry and Phyllis Rodgers first 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 was virtually everywhere. By 1998, the land was ready for planting 20,000 vines on 24 acres. New structures were built, and wine-making facilities and equipment were installed. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel and Syrah were found to be ideally suited to the terroir, as well as Chardonnay, which was added in acknowledgment of the excellent varietal produced by the neighboring Chalk Hill Winery. Marketing and sales began in November 2001 with the release of two wines at a Chapman University fund-raising event in Orange County. Since then, production has increased steadily as the estate vines have matured.

www.chateaufelice.com