2016 Stone The Crows Three Twins Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Stone the Crows is an artisanal winemaking venture that involves Thomas Rivers Brown, one of Napa Valley’s star winemakers, and a prime five-acre vineyard in the hills above St. Helena. Three Twins Vineyard is owned by Rich Talmadge and managed by Josh Clark, who are producing Stone the Crows Cabernet Sauvignon with Thomas Rivers Brown. Brown has been making wine in Napa Valley for several decades and has consulted at Schrader and Maybach, among others. He was in 2010 named Food & Wine Magazine’s Winemaker of the Year. The vineyard was planted in 2005 and the 2010 vintage was the first commercial release. The name of the wine comes from an Australian expression of incredulity or surprise. The partners expect to make no more than 600 cases a year.

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,

One of the most widely grown grape varieties, it can be found in nearly every wine growing region. A cross between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a hardy vine that produces a full-bodied wine with high tannins and great aging potential.