NAPA, Calif. — To mark their first wedding anniversary, Tyler and Kelly Mullman traveled from Houston to the Napa Valley.
For Tyler, it was also a return to the Bay Area, where he’d spent childhood summers. The trip stirred nostalgia and, for the couple, sparked a lifelong passion for wine.
“We fell in love with it,” Tyler said. “We fell in love with wine and the process and the people.”
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Even before their anniversary trip, the couple had committed early in their marriage to setting aside time and money for charitable causes. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and Tyler found himself in what he calls his “mid-career crisis,” the couple began looking for a way to combine the two goals — a career change and a chance to give back.
This year, the Mullmans will debut the first vintage of Cana Ranch wine, donating a portion of every sale toward employment and job training for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The 2024 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Tournahu Vineyard in St. Helena was crafted by winemaker Richard Frederick.
Before launching Cana Ranch, the Mullmans first decided to learn more about how a nonprofit runs. They started volunteering at Belong Kitchen, a Houston nonprofit that employs adults with developmental disabilities to prepare take-home meals.
“We really fell in love with the employees and the way it made me feel when I go in there,” Mullman said. “Just their sense of purpose and passion that they’re getting out of being employed there.”
More than 80% of adults with developmental disabilities are unable to find meaningful work, according to Cana Ranch, and Belong Kitchen’s model has limits because the nonprofit can’t employ people at every ability level in direct food-handling roles due to sanitary requirements. That limitation, Mullman added, makes wine the perfect pairing.
“There are so many things, so many ability levels, that can be employed in a vineyard and winery setting,” he said. “Even if it’s, hey, we need to put bottles into a box, that’s one level. Or, hey, we need to dig a hole and move things around in the vineyard.”
Finding Frederick came through a chain of introductions that Mullman described as improbable. A winemaker he’d been trying to recruit didn’t have the capacity to take on the project but passed along a résumé for Frederick, a Kansas State University alumnus. The two met over coffee.
“Tyler and I immediately connected,” Frederick said. He said the label’s mission was part of the draw. “I thought that was really unique. It’s really refreshing that someone’s actually doing this in the wine industry — not trying to make as much money as possible but trying to uplift another community.”
The label’s name is a nod to the biblical town of Cana, where the Gospel of John describes Jesus performing his first miracle by turning water into wine at a wedding. In the story, wedding guests run out of wine, and the replacement Jesus provides is better than what had been served before.
Mullman said the story has stuck with him for its portrait of generosity, and the label’s wave logo is meant to echo that water-to-wine image without stating it outright.
“We didn’t want to make it in-your-face,” Mullman said, adding that the label is meant to reflect the couple’s values through its actions rather than announce them.
Additionally, “Ranch” is a nod toward the couple’s family roots in Kansas and Texas, where Mullman grew up and Kelly Mullman’s family is from.
The organization recently announced a partnership with WineBev, a social enterprise of United Cerebral Palsy of the Northern Bay that provides job training and employment for adults with developmental disabilities in the wine industry. Despite its parent organization’s name, the majority of WineBev’s employees have diagnoses other than cerebral palsy, which accounts for about 3% of its workforce, according to Mullman.
Finding a local nonprofit partner took months of asking around. The Mullmans wanted an organization focused specifically on employment, which ruled out some groups working with the developmental disability community in other ways. A connection through a friend at another St. Helena label led them to WineBev, which Mullman said was a near-exact match for what Cana Ranch is trying to build.
Supporters who make a $200 tax-deductible donation to Cana Ranch receive a bottle of the 2024 Cabernet, with a portion of each donation going to WineBev. Under the current model, the first $10 from each bottle goes directly to the program, and 50% of proceeds follow once the organization covers its costs.
The partnership launches in the coming weeks and a release party, where all proceeds will benefit WineBev, is scheduled for Oct 10.
The couple’s ultimate goal is to own or lease a Napa Valley vineyard and winery where they would employ adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities throughout the operation, from the vineyard to the tasting room. Mullman acknowledged the couple is currently self-financing the venture.
“We’re going to make the wine that we want to make,” he said. “But we’re trying to be smart about budgeting.”
He said his goal for the year is to cover costs on the 2026 vintage and eventually expand into a second varietal, likely a Sauvignon Blanc.
Mullman said the couple has been struck by how welcoming Napa Valley has been to newcomers, despite building a label that could be seen as raising money from a customer base other wineries might also court.
“We’ve been crazy-shocked by just how open and willing to help the entire valley is,” he said.
The 2024 Cabernet Sauvignon can be reserved through Cana Ranch’s website, canaranch.org, either individually or through a wine club membership. Bottles will ship once the wine is officially released.
© 2026 Napa Valley Register
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