Caterwaul Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2021

It's baaack!!! The latest, greatest vintage of Caterwaul Cabernet Sauvignon- a wine that we here at ACME think is truly the cat's meow. A small project between our friends and Napa superstars, Thomas Rivers Brown & Matt Hardin, ACME was one of the very first places to offer their Caterwaul Cabernet with its debut vintage in 2014. And ever since, it has been a perennial favorite of ours and our members. This wine is absolutely delicious: a juicy, rich Napa Cabernet that pushes all the brain's primordial sensory "pleasure" buttons.

Though neither one of these guys needs a formal introduction, here is a quick refresher on the greatness for which these two are known. Thomas Rivers Brown is the winemaker for some of Napa and Sonoma's most iconic labels (Schrader Cellars, Outpost, Maybach, Pulido-Walker, and his own Rivers-Marie) and has more than thirty 100-point wines to his résumé. Matt Hardin, a 6th generation Napa native and farmer, is the owner of Matthew Wallace Wines and proprietor of Hardin Vineyard Management, one of the most renowned vineyard management companies in Northern California, responsible for some of the most elite vineyards in the area. The core of the decadent Caterwaul Cabernet Sauvignon is, and most likely always will be, crafted with fruit coming from Matt's Pope Valley estate in the rolling hills east of the valley floor. The balance comes from barrels sourced from Matt and Thomas' wider family of clients. Many of these barrels were destined for Cabernet bottlings that would in all likelihood fetch upwards of $150/btl but, fortunately for us, supply outstripped demand! The result is a stellar wine that hails from prime vineyards located in all four compass points of the Napa Valley: from Calistoga down to Stags Leap. 

The 2021 vintage was a gorgeous one in Napa that allowed for an optimal amount of hang time which gave the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes time to ripen exactly to Thomas and Matt's flavor dynamic specifications- culminating in a wine that exudes fruit density, complexity, and power. After a slow, gentle, fermentation, the wine was racked into French oak barrels (60% new) to rest for 20 months. The result is a wine with a deep purple hue at its core, and it practically bursts from the glass with enticing aromas of grilled fig, black cherry compote, and Tahitian vanilla. Caterwaul has a rich, generous body of silky-smooth tannins and mouthwatering flavors of baking spice, cocoa nib, and blackberry coulis. This bottling is an excellent showcase of the optimal 2021 harvest and will be difficult to cellar as it is drinking so well right now!