#51 Wine Spectator Top 100 ~ 2025 edition
 
A rock-solid Cab, offering a steady beam of warmed cassis and cherry reduction notes laced with a loamy accent to keep everything grounded. Dark tobacco and a flash of walnut husk add range through the finish, which hasn’t fully unwound just yet.
Blend: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
 
94-Points by Jeb Dunnuck
Crème de cassis, graphite, sweet tobacco, and sweet, loamy earth notes all define the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, a nicely textured, layered, pure, seamless barrel sample.
 
93-Points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Assuming pricing remains stable, Caterwaul's 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley—a 14,000-case blend this year—should remain one of the valley's greatest values. Boasting wonderful purity of fruit—black cherries and cassis—plus floral-herbal nuances, it's full-bodied, rich and velvety, maybe a bit open-knit but flavorful and structured, with a lasting finish.
 
Winemaker Notes ~ Thomas Rivers Brown
Great vintages are often signaled early in a wine’s life. Mere weeks into existence, the richness, balance and power of 2023 was clear. Carefully sourced Napa Valley vineyards produced great dividends with a perfect marriage of round tannin and supple fruit. Brilliant scarlet red on the rim, denoting a pronounced natural acidity, the wine quickly finds depth in an opaque, violet hue. A rich nose of crushed minerals and red/black berry fruit fills the glass, framed by dusky, dark violets. Complexity on the initial palate girds the expectation of an unbridled wine. Like gentle giant, this wine clearly has a powerful build but conveys a restrained intensity. Soft tannins marked by toasty oak and a wide frame of confit red and purple fruits mark the midpalate. Freshness extends the long finish. There is something here for everyone, and in abundance.
 
PARTNERSHIP
A partnership between Matt Hardin and Thomas Brown was formed during the
2014 vintage after countless years of working together. Out of that friendship
the idea of utilizing the strengths of one another gave birth to Caterwaul wines.
Matt Hardin, a 6th generation Pope Valley resident and farmer, is owner of
Hardin Vineyard Management, one of the most renowned vineyard management
companies in Northern California as well as his own Matthew Wallace Wines.
Thomas Rivers Brown, winemaker for some of Napa and Sonoma’s most iconic
labels (Schrader Cellars, Outpost and his own Rivers-Marie, Aston & Dorsey),
has more than sixty 100-point wines to his resume.