Stones Wine - The Exclusive Stones Black Membership
It’s all in the details. The Hermés of wine. Inspired by the greatest wines in the world, the design, branding and quality of luxury goods, and global travel, proprietor Lawrence Fairchild combines extreme, never before seen detail and modern art influences to create the most collectable wine bottles in the world: Stones Wine and his limited-edition annual collection, Perrarus - meant to be the focal points of wine cellars.
Lawrence, referred to as the Rockstar of Napa, credits inspiration to his eye for modern art and design - he names KAWS, Jackson Pollock, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Wosene, Cédric Bouteiller, and Alexander McQueen among the artists he admires. Lawrence now comes full circle, with a dedication to produce an ever-evolving portfolio of meticulously-crafted, design-forward wines, all of which are award-winning and highly-allocated. His Stones collection features wine labels that are hand-illustrated, hand-pressed and hand-polished in France, and hand-applied over 18 months of careful design. The ever-evolving, annual Perrarus collection of large format Cabernet Sauvignons ($3,500 - $11,500 per bottle) come in hand-blown glass bottles with designs that change each year and are available by lottery only, limited to 1 per member. An edition of one, never to be duplicated.
Growing up farming in Nebraska, Lawrence uses his knowledge to cultivate vines that produce intense fruit from his highly coveted vineyard plots around Napa (one shares a fence line with Screaming Eagle).
He often refers to his “artist’s palate” of grapes, which he thoughtfully uses to craft his Cabernet Sauvignons, new Chardonnay (in a never before seen lay flat bottle) and even newer Cabernet Franc. His wines, which always sell out, include:
Stones No. 1: The Perrarus Block 1 – Saint Helena Vineyard can be best described as a gravel bed of crushed rock, shaped like a football field. Pure drainage and extreme minerality and graphite profiles. Stones No. 1 also benefits from a special, and even more dense addition of a rare Clone 6 selection from our Perrarus Block 2 Pritchard Hill Vineyard.
Stones No. 2: One of the most coveted growing areas in all of Napa Valley, the Perrarus Block 2 on Pritchard Hill exhibits the extreme rocky minerality that has become a signature of the Stones wines. This multi-Clone selection exhibits dense, black fruit, crushed rock, and perfect acidities.
Stones No. 3: Perrarus Block 3 from the Oakville Tench Vineyard may be the most significant and extreme vineyard of the Stones portfolio of vineyards. Sharing the fence line of Screaming Eagle, the vineyard soil resembles an ancient cobblestone street of red rock and minerals like no other vineyard in the Napa Valley. Also a Clone 4 selection, this site exhibits gravelly texture with some loamy soil undertones.
Stones Chardonnay: The Stones Chardonnay is a monument in the making. This is a pure limestone vineyard, and the result is a gravelly, crushed rock wine, with amazing finesse intermixed with some white peach undertones and a perfectly balanced, long, long finish. Blindly, this is Puligny-Montrachet every step of the way. Non-California style perfection.
Stones Longitude-Latitude: An annual creation from four Stones – Perrarus vineyards. Each a unique Longitude – Latitude. An ever-changing combination each vintage. The label depicts the exact longitude and latitude of the exclusive vineyard blocks from which it was sourced, and includes a first introduction of Cabernet Franc in a Stones wine.
Perrarus: Born from an ancient namesake, Perrarus is an unrivaled entity of rare excellence. It stands in defiance of the expected. The precision in its creation brings forth an experience of wine that is inarguably scarce, close to impossible. In it, one recognizes caramel, chocolate, and fire. Char and earth. Wilderness. The distant. The personal. Each vessel is just as unique as the tasting—a perfectly matched physical vase to hold the articulate bloom, hand-blown glass bottles are original, artful. Each is a treasure.
This year, Perrarus 3: The Museum Series draws inspiration from Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of wine, winemaking, and grape cultivation. Perrarus 3: The Museum Series bottles are inspired by ancient Greek and Roman amphoras, vessels with handles that were used to transport goods in ancient Greek and Roman culture, and only 350 bottles will be made available.
Lawrence prides himself on the highly personal relationship he crafts with each Stones Wine client. Outside of the exquisite nature of each Stones and Perrarus bottle, each member’s relationship with Lawrence is often the differentiating factor that draws great appeal. Lawrence’s clients come to Napa to visit his unmarked vineyards, have one-on-one tastings with him, and in some cases dine on curated dinners cooked by Lawrence himself. Last year, Lawrence launched Stones Black, a premiere membership for his clientele looking for higher-level access to the wines, and Lawrence himself. Stones Black is by invitation only and limited to 500 special clients of Fairchild, Stones, and Perrarus.
Stones Black VIP membership includes, special allocations and offerings including upcoming library and large format offerings, guaranteed semi-annual pre-release allocations, three to six bottles, for all Stones wine, bypassing all release notifications including the 2018 Stones inaugural release of Longitude Latitude, Stones No. 1, Stones No. 2 & Stones No. 3., Priority Invitation to Stones - Night of Perrarus Michelin Star dinners including 3-star Le Bernardin - New York, Blackberry Farm - Tennessee, and Blue Hill at Stone Barns - New York, and Group 1 - Tier 1 lottery registration for the exclusive Perrarus hand-blown glass edition. Perpetual purchasing rights upon lottery selection. Access to the Stones Library Program in which any Stones wine can be reordered within five years of release (3-bottle limit and one large format), pre-bottling order access for all large format bottles including 1.5L, 3.0L, & 6.0L and private tasting with Lawrence D. Fairchild when visiting the Napa Valley.
