Since her start at the Silver Oak Napa Valley Winery in 2009, Laura has played a critical role in improving analytical protocols, creating quality control methodologies and streamlining operations. Now, as winemaker of the Napa Valley bottling, Laura oversees all winemaking details—from crush to bottling and even how the Cabernet is shipped around the world to arrive in perfect condition.

Originally from Connecticut, Laura performed her undergraduate studies at Simmons College in Boston where she earned degrees in Biology and Chemistry and developed a scientific focus on microbiology, culminating in her thesis on cross contamination in conjunction with Proctor & Gamble.

Laura thought her focus on microbiology would lead her to a career in medicine, but her life would soon take a different path. While continuing her medical education in Denmark, Laura fell in love with “the warmth and bonding that happened at home and the dinner table over a bottle of wine.” Immediately upon her return, Laura enrolled in the Enology and Viticulture program at the University of California at Davis, and the rest is history.

Laura resides in the Napa Valley with her husband, Phil, and their two daughters.