Former Northrop chief savoring success.

Walking through his vineyard in Bel-Air. Thomas V. Jones explains that given the distance from the ocean and range of temperatures, the 16-acre site actually has a micro-climate and soil composition similar to the Bordeaux region of France.

"A grapevine only feels what it feels," says the former chairman and chief executive of Northrop Corp. "It doesn't know its address."

Like his Moraga vineyard, the 78-year-old Jones is an anomaly. For three decades he headed one of the world's largest aerospace manufacturers - and the maker of the B-2 stealth bomber recently used in the war in Kosovo.

During his time at Northrop - now part of Northrop Grumman Corp. - the company grew from $247 million in annual revenues to $6 billion, due largely to the military buildup during the Cold War.

Nowadays, Jones likes to dress in shirts unbuttoned at the collar and comfortable khaki pants that make it easier for him to kneel down while inspecting grapes at his vineyard. He wears bifocals, and when he walks down a hill, he does it slowly.

Born and raised in Pomona, Jones attended Stanford University, where he got a degree in aeronautical engineering. During his summer vacation in 1941 - before the United States entered World War II - Jones worked at the Douglas Aircraft Co. plant in El Segundo designing dive bombers. When he finished school, he went back to work for Douglas for the rest of the war.

After that, he was offered an opportunity to work first in Washington, and then in Brazil helping the government there develop its air transportation system.

After three years in South America, Jones and his wife Ruth decided to come back to this country, partially out of concern that if they became any more accustomed to the Brazilian lifestyle, it would grow harder to leave.

Jones, though, did not want to return to a standard engineering job.

"I wanted to be involved on the front end of something - the beginning of something, the conceptual end of it, where you're examining new concepts, new technologies," he says.

He spent the next two and a half years at Rand Corp., where he wrote an influential study for the Air Force on the costs of air warfare. In 1953, be was offered the relatively high-ranking post of assistant to the chief engineer at Northrop. Moving quickly through the ranks, Jones was named president in 1959, and shortly thereafter took on the titles of chairman and chief executive. He retired in 1989.

Jones stresses that he always ran the company to serve customers, unlike the way many businesses are managed today.

"When I hear these words 'shareholder value' now, I think it's a very bad criterion for running a company," he says. "That's marketing. Whenever you create value, they really mean get the price up so (they) can sell (their) stock."

Much of Jones' philosophy about running the aerospace giant has carried over to his vineyard. He and his wife bought the Bel-Air land - where they also have their home - at the time Jones became president of Northrop. (He also once owned the land where the Getty Center now sits, visible from the vineyard, but sold it to the Getty Trust.) It wasn't until 1978 that Jones planted grapevines on his Bel-Air properly - a decision that came after years of traveling to France on business and becoming something of a wine connoisseur.

Originally, Jones planned on making wine just for family members and friends. But after getting many compliments, he decided to try selling it. Now it goes for $85 a bottle and is served in high-end restaurants in L.A., Napa Valley, New York and Paris.

"It's not a good investment - if you take how long you put in, how much money (you invest) as you're building up," he says. "You know, probably if you bought savings bonds, you'd be better off at this point."