A feature story in the Wall Street Journal details the saga of stent pioneer Julio Palmaz and his wife in building a 100,000 square foot underground tunnel for their vineyard in Napa Valley. Palmaz told Journal reporter  Christina Duff that he and his wife had visited Napa Valley while he was a resident at UC-Davis  and had pledged: “‘Some day, we’ll make a little bit of money and we’ll come back here.’” After Palmaz and his backers sold their stent patent to J&J for $500 million they were able to fulfill their pledge. Their dream, however, was a nightmare for some of their neighbors, one of whom complained that the work on the tunnel left the property looking like Apocalypse Now.”

The complete story is available at the WSJ:  A Family’s Adventures Underground

And, if you want to see how the other half lives, you can visit the Palmaz Vineyard website.