Lang & Reed Wine Company

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SF Chronical

The other Cabernet

Jon Bonné, Chronicle Wine Editor ~ Sunday, March 29, 2009

"The best expressions of Cabernet Franc are much more interesting than the best expressions of Cabernet Sauvignon."
That is often the minority view. Says John Skupny of Lang & Reed, probably California's sole Franc-focused winery:
"It is definitely the Rodney Dangerfield of the varietals."

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Welcome
   

The Skupnys

Welcome to the Lang & Reed home page where it really does feel like home! As you can see by our new family portrait we’ve been to a wedding…. 

Cabernet Franc was flowing endlessly in the pastoral town of Chinon in the Loire Valley last month! Our older son, Reed, and his fiancée, Megan, were married in the chapel of an ancient chateau in a hamlet just outside Chinon. We are overwhelmed with joy to announce that our L & R family just got a little bigger.

You met us when the boys, Jerzy (Lang) & Reed were quite young – 10 and 13 to be exact. Well, time passes, kids grow and our tale of Cabernet Franc continues. So what could sweeten this fairy-tale story of a wedding in France? You may be guessing that the Chinon connection is no coincidence, and indeed it is not. Their marriage marked the culmination of a more practical plan: an internship for Reed with our favorite Cabernet Franc producer, Domaine Bernard Baudry.

Reed has been on a self-designed path of winemaking, first interning for Pahlmeyer Wines here in the Napa Valley, next in New Zealand for Mud House. With great experience under his belt he arrived in the warm embrace of Bernard and Henriette Baudry and immediately  marched through the rigors of sugar sampling, harvest, crush, racking, and pump-overs; all the while Megan, with camera in hand, documented the occasion – especially the piger aux pieds (foot stomping!). Together they researched Cab Franc specialists in Saumur, Bourgueil, and St. Nicholas de Bourgueil and immersed themselves in regional culinary specialties: goat cheese, champignons and rillettes!

For a peek at their adventures in the vineyards at Domaine Bernard Baudry and truly beautiful photos of the fairy-tale wedding, click here!

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Lang & Reed

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Right Bank 2004

Napa Valley

53% Cabernet Franc

30% Merlot

9% Petit Verdot

8% Cabernet Sauvignon

Effusive, cedar aromas. Intense, rich plum flavors. Expansive, elegant, plolished.

Wine Spectator

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Premier Etage 2003 Napa Valley

98% Cabernet Franc

2% Petit Verdot

Rich and mouth filling, Dense and chewy. Fruit and oak in harmony. Balanced with a long, lasting finish.

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Lang & Reed 2007 North Coast

100% Cabernet Franc

Sappy aromas of crushed cranberry, delicate dried herbs. Sweet cherry, black currants on the palate. Soft tannins, satisfying finish.
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