Dan and Marguerite Capp
Dan Capp's family ties in Napa Valley go back to the great gold rush to California in the 1840's and 1850's. His great, great-grandparents traveled from Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, & Tennessee to stake their claims in the California gold fields and later the fertile valleys of Napa and Lake Counties.
Dan was born and raised in Napa, helping out on his family's farm in summers while pursuing his education, went into the U.S. Navy, and then obtained a Bachelors of Science degree in Agricultural Engineering from California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, California in 1970. His first post-college job was working as a design engineer for a large engineering firm in Santa Rosa, CA. Dan became interested in the newly-emerging disciplines of viticulture and oenology at that time, and indeed, went to work for a new, start-up winery, Franciscan Vineyards and Winery of Rutherford, CA. This completed his interest in the wine industry, which industry had lain in the doldrums for decades after the political experiment of Prohibition in the United States during the 1920's and 1930's. Dan and a partner purchased a property which was then planted to vineyard in 1973. Also during this time, Dan and Marguerite Capp raised their two children, and learned more of the fine art of raising world class grapes. Marguerite later sold real estate for nearly twenty years, helping to support the family and gaining an education in the business world. In 1996, Dan and Marguerite purchased two more contiguous properties, planting them also to vineyard and becoming one of the top 10% of family vineyards, in both size and quality, in Napa Valley.