1999 Lang & Reed Napa Valley Cabernet Franc

Lang & Reed Wine Company grew out Tracey and John Skupny’s fascination with Cabernet Franc. The couple started their careers as sommeliers in Kansas City nearly 40 years ago, moving to Napa Valley in 1984. John held executive positions at several Napa Valley wineries, including Caymus Vineyards and Clos Du Val Wine Company, while Tracey raised their sons and worked in wine sales. Over the years the Skupnys grew increasingly interested in Cabernet Franc, and in 1993 they started experimenting with making Cabernet Franc. They founded their winery in 1996 and today produce Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc inspired by the classic wines of the Loire Valley and the fruit they source from various appellations in northern California. Lang & Reed wines have earned scores in the 90s and Stephen Tanzer has complimented what he calls the “racy Lang & Reed style.”

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,

This is a parent grape to Cabernet Sauvignon. It most likely originates from Basque country. It is an excellent blending grape, known for making the exquisite Cheval-Blanc. Franc is a little hardier on a vine than Sauvignon, but drinks smoothly at the table.