BEHIND that $150 bottle of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, wine drinkers may be surprised to find a young woman.

In the most prestigious and expensive wine region in the United States, winery proprietors are turning their prized grapes and reputations to a new generation of women winemakers hovering around 30 years of age.

Take Sally Johnson, 33, winemaker for Pride Mountain Vineyards. She says many of the women who graduated with her from the famous Viticulture and Enology Department at the University of California at Davis are accomplished winemakers today.

"It is a great time for women in this industry because there are no barriers to being successful," Johnson said as she poured Pride Cabernet Sauvignon during Napa Valley's annual wine auction this month.

"The women who came before us really blazed the trail. Now nobody thinks that we won't hop in the tank, or shovel out the grapes or do the cellar work. We've been able to be as successful as the guys."

One of the trail blazing women is Pam Starr, who at 47 is winemaker and co-proprietor at Crocker & Starr after years as consulting for several top wineries in the region.

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