Lang & Reed Wine Co., was founded by John & Tracey Skupny in 1993 with the intent to produce wines from Cabernet Franc vineyards in the Napa Valley. John has been in the wine business for over 20 years, having worked with premium wine estates such as Caymus, Clos Du Val and Niebaum-Coppola. Tracey worked at Spottswoode for many years. Together, John and Tracey have created their exciting new production company and have already received accolades for their first two releases, which we are pleased to present in their Wine Association debut showing.
Carole has kept her day job. Since 1980 she has been a professor in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California at Davis. She survives the long commute between Napa and Davis by means of books on tape and cappucino. In addition to teaching courses at Davis, she conducts research in grape genetics. Carole’s research group has used DNA typing methods to discover the origins of some of the greatest old wine varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Syrah, and most recently Zinfandel.
We bought our property in 1986, planted our first vines in 1994 and released our first wine in 2000. So it took us a long time to get here. Unlike some Napa Valley wine producers, we did not start out with a lot of money, only our paychecks. We have no partners or investors, no employees or consultants. We grow the grapes ourselves. We make the wine ourselves.
