Lang & Reed stays true to its cabernet franc roots
By Virginie Boone
ST. HELENA, Calif. — While many winemakers across the Napa Valley understand the value and beauty of cabernet franc, most employ it as a blending tool in their Bordeaux blends or as an aromatic lifter in their cabernet sauvignons. Not Lang & Reed. John and Tracey Skupny started their family winery in 1996 with the specific intent to explore what cabernet franc in California could do.
They’re still at it, hosting tastings at the Spring House in St. Helena, which has its own story to tell. It was once the home of Frank Salmina, who in 1878 bought the William Tell Saloon and Hotel at 1228 Spring St. Salmina was an Italian-Swiss dairy farmer who wanted to be near other Italian-Swiss farmers, most of whom had settled in and around the town.
The Salmina family also bought what is now Larkmead in 1903 and sold grapes and wine until Prohibition, when it survived by selling fruit and sacramental wine. After the repeal of the 18th Amendment, the Salminas brought the estate back to life and helped to develop and promote Napa Valley’s wine industry. Their time at Larkmead came to an end after the death of Felix Salmina in 1940 and subsequent sale of the winery.
The Skupnys honor the Salminas’ time in St. Helena at the Spring House with vintage photos and maps, but they have their own story and wines to try.
Landing in the Napa Valley in 1984 after both growing up in the Midwest, John’s early days were in restaurant and retail wine-buying and sales before taking on executive-level roles at Caymus Vineyards, Clos du Val and Inglenook (then known as Niebaum-Coppola Estate), while Tracey spent much of her career at Spottswoode Winery as marketing director.
While working their day jobs they launched Lang & Reed, both maternal family names and names they passed on to their two sons, Reed and Jerzy Lang. The goal from the start was to “make the world safe for cabernet franc,” as they say, showing its potential in California with a prototype wine in 1993 and a first official release in 1996.
The Skupnys say they’ve been charmed by the great French cabernet fancs from Chinon, Bourgueil and Bordeaux but also by those made in Italy, Australia, South Africa, New York and California.
In “Jancis Robinson’s Wine Course,” wine made from cabernet franc is described as “aromatically fruity, lighter and less tannic than cabernet sauvignon and, especially in the Loire, can smell appetizingly of pencil shavings. It is often rather herbaceous.”
With Lang & Reed cabernet franc, the Skupnys wanted to make a wine heady in aroma and rich, satisfying fruit that would not be overburdened by oak or tannin – but not a “baby cabernet sauvignon.”
Finding cabernet franc in the Napa Valley can be a challenge. There are only about 1,200 acres of it currently, and it’s expensive — averaging nearly $10,000 per ton (2022 Napa County Agricultural Crop Report). That makes it the most expensive grape per ton in the Napa Valley, even higher than cabernet sauvignon, which averages nearly $9,000 per ton but has around 24,000 bearing acres.
This speaks to its value in blends but also to the following cabernet franc has with winemaking brands that, like Lang & Reed, want to offer something beyond cabernet sauvignon. Some of its standard bearers in the Napa Valley include Detert, Chappellet, Titus, AXR and Crocker & Starr. Also inspired by the Loire, small producer T. Berkley Wines makes a cab franc from Oak Knoll District’s Big Ranch Vineyard.
Lang & Reed makes three versions of 100%-varietal cab franc (ranging from $29 to $90 a bottle): California appellation, sourcing grapes from Lake County, Mendocino, Lodi and Alexander Valley; North Coast appellation, sourcing from Alexander Valley, Mendocino, Lake County and Napa Valley; and “Two-Fourteen,” a Napa Valley cab franc from a block of the Sugarloaf Vineyard Mountain planted entirely to Clone 214, a cultivar that originated in the Loire Valley they believe expresses their highest achievement.
In 2013, Lang & Reed released its first white wine, chenin blanc ($35 a bottle), inspired again by France’s Loire Valley.
Also available to taste at Spring House are the Rockhound wines of daughter-in-law Megan Skupny, who makes the wines with husband Reed Skupny, who is also the winemaker for Elyse. Rockhound includes a rosé out of magnum and several pinot noirs.
Napa Valley history buffs will appreciate that the Skupnys’ other son, Jerzy, is married to the granddaughter of Don and Sally Schmitt, the original founders of the French Laundry. He now manages the Apple Farm in Philo with the Bates-Schmitt family.
Lang & Reed will hold its Annual Harvest Party Saturday, Oct. 28, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Spring House, which is otherwise open regularly for several levels of reservation-only indoor and outdoor tastings, from a Trademark Tasting ($75) to Caviar and Wine ($175). 1244 Spring St., St. Helena, 707-963-7547, langandreed.com.
Virginie Boone has written about and reviewed the wines of Napa and Sonoma for more than a decade.