Stone The Crows · Three Twins Vineyard · 2021
2021 Stone The Crows Three Twins Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, USA
A place on your wine list
The flagship Cabernet from Thomas Rivers Brown's hillside above Lake Hennessey. Decanter 98. Clones 169, 337, and 685. This is the 2021, not the 2022 already on the site.
Winery SRP $150 per bottle
Restaurant-only allocation. Retail- Open-Limited. Orders are subject to account review. If a retail account orders this wine, OneWineMarket may reduce or cancel the order. No Wine-Searcher listings are permitted for this allocation.
Why this bottle belongs on the list
Two selling points.
Then the market.
Cult winemaker: Thomas Rivers Brown.
Wine Spectator put him on the November 15, 2018 cover. James Laube called it The Midas Touch. Napa producers dubbed him Napa's Top Gun. He has made every Three Twins vintage since the first commercial release in 2010.
Harlan-planted hillside. The flagship, not Fallen Feather.
Three Twins sits at 700 feet in Conn Valley, a mile uphill from Bond Melbury. Mary Hall planted it in 2005 for Harlan's Napa Valley Reserve. Rick Talmadge bought the 4.5 acres. This bottling is the flagship: clones 169, 337, and 685, 20 months in 100 percent new French oak.
Professional scores
Decanter 98 on this vintage.
Named critic scores on this vintage. These are press ratings, not the Wine-Searcher aggregate.
The buyer's perspective
What the guest
hears first.
Red and black cherries, sagebrush, ironstone. Super-refined tannins. Staff can sell it in one sentence: Thomas Rivers Brown, Three Twins, Decanter 98, pour it with ribeye.
Winemaker's corner
Wine Spectator cover, November 15, 2018 · The Midas Touch · Napa's Top Gun
Thomas
Rivers Brown
Brown grew up in Sumter, South Carolina, studied English and Economics at the University of Virginia, and drove a Honda Passport to Napa in 1996. He started on the floor at All Seasons Bistro in Calistoga, met Ehren Jordan, and took a cellar job at Turley Wine Cellars in 1997.
Fred Schrader hired him in 2000 to make Cabernet, a grape Brown had not yet produced. That partnership, plus Outpost, Maybach, and his own Rivers-Marie label, made him one of the most in-demand winemakers in the valley. Within a decade of arriving, he had wines at 100 points from Robert Parker.
Wine Spectator put him on the cover of the November 15, 2018 issue. James Laube's story was titled The Midas Touch of Thomas Rivers Brown. Clients still call him Napa's Top Gun. He has made Stone The Crows since the first commercial vintage. The handshake with proprietor Richard Talmadge happened over a beer on the Champs-Elysees.
The estate
Above the lake.
Looking toward Pritchard Hill.
Three Twins Vineyard sits in the hills east of St. Helena, on the northern slopes of Lake Hennessey. Antonio Galloni called it one of the most visually stunning vineyards in Napa Valley. Decanter places it a mile uphill from Bond Melbury.
Richard Talmadge found an old cattle ranch, planted from 2004, and named the vineyard for his triplets. Volcanic ash over gravel and flint. Cabernet clones 2, 15, 169, 337, and 685 run across five blocks. This 2021 flagship is clones 169, 337, and 685, not the Fallen Feather clone-337 selection.
The name is an Australian expression of surprise, not a threat to the birds. First commercial vintage: 2010, with Brown in the cellar from the start. OWM already lists the 2022 flagship as product 155. This page is the 2021.
2021 in the glass
Cherries.
Sagebrush.
Ironstone.
Decanter's 2021 note is the vintage tasting. Full-bodied, supple, decadent. Red and black cherries, sagebrush, ironstone minerals, blackberry liqueur, cedarwood. Super-refined tannins, long graceful finish. Drink 2024 to 2040. Stainless ferment, 14 to 16 days on skins, 20 months in new French oak from Darnajou, Remond, and La Grange. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. 14.7 percent alcohol.
Menu and service
Built for a serious table.
- Grilled ribeye with rosemary jus
- Braised short ribs over mashed potatoes
- Herb-roasted lamb with charred vegetables
Serve slightly cool, around 60 to 65 F, in a generous Cabernet stem. Taste on opening. Consider a 30 to 60 minute decant and adjust to the bottle.
Staff pairing clip
Gordon Ramsay cooks ribeye with Matthew McConaughey
The tableside introduction
“This is the 2021 flagship from Thomas Rivers Brown, the Wine Spectator cover winemaker they called Napa's Top Gun. Three Twins Vineyard, Decanter 98. Cherries, sagebrush, ironstone. Pour it with ribeye.”
Ready for your team
Put the story to work.
Shelf talker
A concise bottle story for guest-facing displays. No trade price.
Download PDFServer card
The pitch, menu matches, and service notes in a compact format.
Download PDFFull trade sheet
Person, site, tasting, market context, and the case offer.
Download PDFOrder the case
Put 2021 Three Twins on the list.
Cult winemaker. Flagship hillside Cabernet. Decanter 98. Trade $71 a bottle, $852 the twelve-bottle case, one-case minimum.
Restaurant-only allocation. Retail- Open-Limited. Orders are subject to account review. If a retail account orders this wine, OneWineMarket may reduce or cancel the order. No Wine-Searcher listings are permitted for this allocation.
