A chemical engineer and Hungarian national football player, Lou Kapcsandy escaped the brutal Soviet suppression of the Hungarian revolution of 1956 by a hair’s breadth to arrive in Camp Kilmer, New Jersey on December 31st 1956. Working nights in a bakery in the Bronx to convert his degree, his future career in the petroleum and pharmaceuticals business was put on hold consecutively by conscription into the US Army’s 82nd Airborne division and a stint playing professional football for the San Diego Chargers. He even found a little time to box and once knocked out a young, cocky pretender by the name of Cassius Clay! Eventually rising to head up one of the largest general contractors in the US, Lou ‘retired’ in 2003 to spend time at his vineyard in Yountville and make some truly exceptional wines. Now alongside his son Louis Jr they produce tiny quantities (less than 2000 cases from the whole estate) of wine hugely revered by critics and adored by collectors who are lucky enough to taste them, with the top wines - the State Lane ‘Grand Vin’ Cabernet, the Pomerol-style Roberta’s Reserve, and the pure Cabernet Franc Rapszodia – made in the low hundreds of cases.
