CATERWAUL
NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA 2023
Winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown has notched 41 perfect, 100-point scores, and is so in-demand that his client roster is 45 estates long (including Schrader Cellars, Far Niente, Mondavi, and Revana Family Vineyard). The man could not produce a middling bottle of wine if he tried — but to taste his handiwork at his pet project label, Caterwaul, is to taste his winemaking, we think, at its most personal and expressive.
Which is why we jumped at the chance to partner with him for this offer of six bottles in his portfolio, including a 98-point single-vineyard Phelan Ranch Cabernet from 2023 and a 97-point single vineyard Regusci Cabernet from the same year, and — the ringer of this crop of reds — a gorgeous Chardonnay for only $40 a bottle (a tremendous value for California Chard. And only 670 cases were made.)
Jeb Dunnuck was all over these.
He awarded 98 points to the Phelan Ranch, calling it "up there with the finest wines” he's ever tasted from the vineyard, a Cabernet of impressive scale and concentration, with a layered mouthfeel and tannins that are both big and graceful. The Regusci from Stag's Leap (97 points) elicited the marvelous moniker "pleasure bomb,” with Dunnuck singling it out for its ripe red and black fruit, supple polished tannins, and an immediate accessibility that makes it as fun to drink now as it will be in a decade. The Rutherford 2023, meanwhile, struck him as "deep, rich, pure, and polished" — and good, he noted in his 96-point review, for another 15-20 years of evolution.
Caterwaul launched, in 2014, not with visions of conquering the world but with something smaller: two friends who wanted to work together.
Thomas Rivers Brown had spent years tending grapes farmed by Matt Hardin, a 6th-generation Pope Valley resident who owns Hardin Vineyard Management, one of the most respected names in Napa farming; and the two decided, finally, to formalize the collaboration and create a label of their own.
The premise was simple but unusual in California wine: here, the farmer who grows the grapes and the winemaker who shapes them are equal partners in what ends up in the glass.
That notion of equality and connection is evident with every sip. Caterwaul wines have a particular kind of vineyard transparency to them, a sense that what your tasting comes first from the land, and only second from the cellar.
They’ve given us many hours of pleasure, and we’re sure they’ll do the same for you.
Just note that wines this pedigreed, and this personal, don't tend to stick around for around. So get your bottles and cases while you can.
*Offer NOT valid in-store. This offer is made pre-arrival, with wines estimated to be delivered to your preferred store in Fall 2026. With the supply chain issues that we are seeing globally, there may be some unforeseen delays which could affect the ETA. All sale prices are the lowest available at Total Wine & More and ONLY valid through Concierge Sales. No further discounts or coupons may be applied. Offer not valid in CO, IN, KS, MA, MI, NE, NM, NY, OK, or TN This offer will expire on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026.