Laura Zahtila Swanton knows the many challenges of establishing a boutique winery dedicated to crafting small quantities of fine wine in the Napa Valley. She has experienced them all in her demanding, yet delicious, journey from fledging winery to award-winning Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel producer.

A long-time wine enthusiast, Owner and Proprietor Laura Zahtila Swanton purchased the Calistoga winery estate that would become Zahtila Vineyards from the Traulsen family in 1999. At the time, Laura was a sales specialist with Cisco Systems in San Jose. It was a career that required intimate knowledge of high-tech product application. Knowing how the technology worked was critical to her success in selling the product.

Today, Laura's tenacity for learning systems and science is directed at running her small winery and vineyard estate dedicated to limited-production, premium red wines. Since 1999, Laura has managed all winemaking processes from grape sourcing to the logistics of launching and operating a winery. Her zeal to understand winegrowing at its root has her pruning, picking, irrigating and collecting soil samples in the vineyard. A thirst for winemaking knowledge encourages her participation in crush, pump-overs, racking and bottling.

 

"I do it all," says Laura. "It's so important that I work alongside every member of the Zahtila team from the temporary harvest help to my associate winemaker. I'm not one to stand on the sidelines, and fortunately because we are as small as we are, I can be actively involved in every aspect of this business."