And they certainly never involved sitting in this cubicle, under these flourescent lights, in this soulless office park. But you can’t just drop everything and run off to Hollywood, or truck-driving school, or the jungles of Costa Rica. Nobody walks away from a sure thing to chase some crazy, beautiful scheme. Do they?

Laura Zahtila did. After working for big high-tech firms like Cisco, she jumped out of her promising tech career in midstream to throw her life savings into a run-down winery in the Napa Valley. She’s worn more hats than the marquee section at Churchill Downs on Derby day, from sourcing grapes to collecting soil samples. She can crush, pump, rack, and bottle. Her boutique wines have scored gold medals up and down the West Coast. And she’s never had to punch a clock.

You can taste the passion and the hard work – and the freedom – in every drop of this Laura Zahtila Vineyards 2006 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. With all the intensity and depth that put Napa Cabs on the map, this purple people-pleaser delivers aromas of raspberry and plum spiced with toasty vanilla. Earth tones and integrated tannins pile up on the palate in delicate layers. Don’t be fooled by Laura Zahtila’s current unsavory association with Wine.Woot. Judging by this wine, she’s done pretty well for herself since leaving Silicon Valley.

Still, there must be moments when Laura wonders. When she thinks about all she gave up when she walked away from that steady paycheck and those fixed hours and those stock options. When she feels the slightest twinge of regret.

Yeah, right.

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