John and Barbara Witt envisioned a dream retirement: Sell their Ohio home, pack up and move to their "little place nestled among the vineyards" of warm and beautiful California wine country.

Barbara Witt laughs as she recalls the three-year search for just the right plot of land. In the end, "we ended up buying the worst property we looked at," she says.

A diamond in the rough, it turns out.

It was a long and eventful journey, but today, eight years after buying the property in the shadow of Napa Valley's Mount St. Jean, the Witts have transformed the 6.8-acre abandoned dairy into their retirement dream and more. They planted vines and established a winery, Witt Estate, and also offer estate-grown olive oil and lavender in their spare time. They're hoping to return to the Dayton area later this month ? and perhaps even pour their 2002 "Repartie" merlot for old friends at the May 22 Fleurs de Fete wine and food festival.

Not bad for a couple of retirees.

Barbara was born in Arcanum and married John in 1975 after he moved to town to open a plastics factory that would become Witt Plastics. The couple raised a family of five children in Greenville, but "did our playing, our wining and dining" mostly in Dayton, Barbara said.

Their fondness for Jay's Restaurant winemaker luncheons, the annual Fleurs de Fete and chats with Arrow Wine's Dennis Batty led to a vacation trip to California wine country, which in turn evolved into annual trips to the Napa Valley, which led to, well, that retirement idea ? a dream that expanded into launching their own winery.

Other friends looked to Florida and endless rounds of golf for retirement. Not the Witts. "Wine became John's hobby. And he says, 'I never was any good at golf,' " according to Barbara.

The Witts started planting merlot grapes on the property in 1998, while still residing in Greenville. They renovated a historic dairy barn but immediately demolished the "post-war monstrosity" house and started building their own. They moved to Napa in 2000.

With the help of family members, the couple picked grapes and bottled their first vintage ? "a nice little wine," Barbara called it ? in 2001. "It was fun and frantic, but we decided in the end that (this) was too much for us to handle and too much for us to drink," she said.

A neighbor who had made wine for Frog's Leap Vineyards and who was striking out on her own offered to make the Witts wine, and convinced the couple to launch their own label. Now Witt Estate produces 150 cases a year of its only wine, the merlot the Witts names Repartie because it evoked images of witty conversation and a jovial dinner table. The Witts hope to secure the regulatory approval to sell the $35 wine in Ohio as well as the five states where their children live: Maryland, Texas, Kansas, Arizona and California.

The estate's 30 olive trees produce 16 gallons of olive oil, and then there's the acre of lavender to tend. Between the chores and Napa's bustling social functions, Witt described her and her husband's retirement life as "dazzlingly busy." And what does she think now of that "worst-we-looked-at" property they purchased?

"It turned out to be just a little bit of paradise," Witt said.