Our History

Our team had to grow

After 27 years of brotherhood, it was time to get some fresh inspiration for the Caro’s team. Regan McCaffery and Danielle Grevers joined John and Richard as owners in 2022. Both have extensive experience working with Fine Wine in New Zealand. They met after a Chef de Caves dinner while working for the same wine retailer, a fitting introduction at 3am over three bottles of 2002 Belle Epoque.

Danielle Grevers

Danielle came to a wine career after a chance University lecture with Cameron Douglas MS. The revelation was tasting her first white Burgundy, leading her to an empty wallet and a cellar of Grand Crus. She started in wine retail, then hands on experience at the bottom of many tanks as a cellar hand with Villa Maria. After deciding she preferred selling wine over making it, she then spent many years manging various wine retail stores and teaching wine. That lead her to the importation and distribution side of the industry, working six years specialising in fine wine for Negociants New Zealand.

Regan McCaffery

Regan never grew up in a wine drinking household, just taxing his father’s ‘Miami Wine Cooler’ from the pool bar fridge. During his OE to Europe, he had his first introduction to the classic regions and cuisine. A self-taught wine obsession followed, reading, travelling and drinking as many older bottles as possible. After returning from another year long trip to France and Spain, his first unemployment check may have been used wisely to buy a 1990 Champagne Salon. Deciding the best way to keep drinking and learning the greatest wines in the world was to sell them himself. He then worked as the Fine Wine Manager at Glengarry for 14 years, and was particularly well known for presenting hundreds of incredible tastings over his time. His greatest wine achievement though was finally proposing to Danielle with a 1996 Louis Roederer Cristal. Surreptitiously carried with glasses in his pack for 50km on the Abel Tasman track.

It all began in 1995

And so it began on Ponsonby Road back in June 1995, before the internet had really taken hold. All we had to rely upon was our specialist knowledge in wine, and the curiosity of drinkers who came to know us. We opened the doors to what was a sensational selection of fine wine from around the world. How did we know this? Well, it had taken John over a decade to hand select each bottle of his private collection and it was a hefty portion of this collection that formed the backbone of what became Caro's stock when the doors opened.

John had been collecting for many years. His knowledge and discernment had been established through his sommelier experience and working for a leading merchant in London during his early career. It's safe to say the wine was excellent, and that Auckland wine lovers were fortunate to have this collection available to them.

John had been working for one of New Zealand's leading fine wine retailers for some time, and along with his UK experience, it served to give Caro's the right skills and contacts to bring a wide selection of high-quality wines to the Auckland market. It's been the same ever since. 

You kept wanting more

At Caro’s we have always been passionate, fanatic, crazy about and completely in love with wine.

What separates wine from other beverages is its complexity. Not just the complexity within a wine itself, but in all the details that make up a wine. How it is grown and made, what it is made from, where it was made and who made it. All vital factors.

Wine is so fascinating, simply because it comes in so many varieties, styles and colours from so many places around the globe. One of the joys of wine is stepping outside the square, discovering new flavours and aromas and constantly adding new dimensions to your wine experience. That’s why we source direct from wineries around the world, as well as nurture strong relationships with partners that stand the test of time so we can continue to bring you the best.

It's these very reasons that drove our constant search for new, exciting and unique wines from new producers and emerging wine regions. We continue to love seeking out wines that offer the highest quality and greatest value. You kept asking for more. We kept delivering.

Today… over 20 years on, we’re still as driven to bring you a high quality deal as the day we opened the doors on Ponsonby Road.

John Caro

John started his wine career straight after university in the early 80's working as a sommelier at the newly opened Regent Hotel. All the food and beverage training was under French control - teaching him about the importance of attention to detail.

After the Regent, John did his OE in London, firstly attending the Prue Leith cooking school where he learnt the French classics as well as earning his British wine trade certificate. This experience led to a job with Winecellars, the first Italian wine specialist in London - quite a radical concept in those days as Italian wines were thought of as the poor cousins to the French in the English wine trade.

Winecellars set John up with cellar work at Isole E Olena, specialising in Chianti Classico. He worked two vintages in their estate in Tuscany. Paulo di Marchi was at the forefront of the Chianti revival and like his French food and beverage director, was also obsessive about detail.

His appreciation of wine has only grown since those early experiences and in 1995, John and his brother Richard opened Caro's Wine, with the goal of sharing their love of wine with others. For 11 years in a row now, Caro's Wine has been voted the best wine shop in Auckland by Metro magazine - a great endorsement for what they set out to achieve.

Richard Caro

Richard's diverse background working in both the fresh produce sector and in accountancy made him uniquely prepared to join his brother John when they decided to open Caro's Wine over 20 years ago.

Today, Richard's responsibilities include building relationships with and sourcing wine from New Zealand's wineries, database management, events co-ordinator and marketing, plus the accountancy of the business, In other words this is a small business operation focused on delivering unique, competitively priced value wine whilst keeping overheads to a minimum.

Caro’s strive to get you the best deal at the highest quality... it's that simple.