I’m getting old, I guess. Back in the day, there were wineries of great esteem that we sought out for pleasure and quality: Heitz (above all), Stags Leap, Caymus, Souverain, Benziger, Clos du Bois, St. Clement… I even spent an afternoon sipping new whites with Patty Fetzer once on her back porch and thought some of them were above average. Have these places all folded?
Every night on Woot I see names of wineries I’ve never heard of before. Do these guys spring up overnight? Do they have any lasting potential or is it all a Night at the Opera?
I am missing the the voice mail feature - like to hear from the winery esp for a Friday deal. Hope to see this come back soon.
This is my first Ty purchase. I am tempted by the promise of the citrus notes and cream brulee aspect. I know Ty Caton has a faithful and large following here, anyone have experience with Ty’s whites?
Thanks for your input,
rk
I have a degree of underlying faith in Ty Caton that what they offer here will, at the least, be quality juice for the price. But that leaves me wondering about whether the overall character of the wine is something that I would enjoy.
So I’m looking for information on how the wine is made. Specifically, how much oak treatment? Amount of MLF? Residual sugar? TA?
As a general rule I enjoy white wines that are crisper, fruitier, and with little to no secondary MLF. Anyone have any info to offer on this offering?
A quick Google search shows that none of the wineries you mentioned have folded.
It may be that newer wineries have more incentive to offer their wares on Woot - I don’t know. But there are certainly some great newer wineries, such as Ty Caton, which was founded in 1997.
“This wine leads with beautiful aromas of lemon and pineapple. Creamy and viscous in texture, it exhibits crème brûlée and hazelnut flavors followed by a smooth finish.”
This sounds as if it doesn’t fit your profile. OTOH, maybe this offering could modify your profile.
BTW, did anyone else think of Southern Tier Crème Brûlée Stout?
This is a reasonable argument, but I’m still looking for an official answer. I wouldn’t expect this to be a mix of Central Valley drain pour. Yet this is a 2nd label now being separated from the Ty Caton brand. Leaves more room for mixin’ it up.
I certainly wouldn’t expect some kind of terroir driven wine. But I do hope it’s more coastal fruit–especially Chard–than inland stuff.
I agree that the description shades away from what I prefer. I guess that what I’m looking for is a more direct statement rather than implied.
I’ve found that implied has a good likelihood of disconnect. DW recently opened a bottle of a wine.woot offering in which I had some expectations based on similar readings of the description. After a couple of sips I passed my glass over to DW.
So I’ve reached a place where I like to hear a direct statement rather than trying to infer. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I won’t buy, because I do try to recognize DW’s different preferences. But I do want to have reasonable confidence in what I’m ordering.
nuts this is! I see it’s had reasonable oak, and since there is a large Chard component, and creamy… does this mean it’s been through malolactic fermentation? If so, how much?
Anyone had experience of Ty whites? He ain’t a purist, given he’s a smooth ripe red merchant (the racchus red my friends really like, and it’s very good for its style and price point certainly)
Re: the names and “what’s up with that?” with Racchus Red and Rollus White being under the “Racchus” label: methinks TPTB at Ty decided not to confuse things by creating yet another “third label” with Rollus.
(And also to have another fun with the names. “Rock-us” and “Roll-us”…I admit, it made me giggle. :D)
No room for this in the fridge, though I do love me some Ty Caton. Ugh; I’ll have to think about it…
I had a conversation about this very thing with a distributor friend of mine (our sons are on the same basketball team). He just returned from a wine tour in California. His opinion is that it’s simply supply and demand and the rise in popularity of wine overall.
By the way, I was a labrat on this and we had it last night. I’ll post a better report tonight (gotta go to work), but this was excellent right out of the bottle, with food, without food, etc. I dont’t drink whites, but I’ll be in for a case…more to come
Long ago, didn’t ‘reserve’ indicate a wine of superior quality given extra aging before release to help it reach its lofty potential, instead of just another fluff word on a label? How can a 2009 non-appelation California white blend sold in 2010, with no ‘non-reserve’ sibling, even remotely be considered ‘reserve’?
Or do I have the term confused with something else?
I’m looking forward to your description. I’m not a big white wine drinker either, but I do enjoy a nice crisp, acidic white to pair with fish or fowl (i.e. I can’t stand oaky, buttery chards)
HANDS OFF! Odds are it will be tomorrow night before my card is clear and I can buy some of this. I really, really want some of this.
I loved the Racchus Red (down to 2 bottles–would love more!) and I have almost no whites. I adore Ty’s wines. I have the money–just need the cc to admit it.
And I need y’all to not buy it all before tomorrow evening! Please, please, please!
Nose: very aromatic. Candied papaya. A little cloying. The non-chardonnay varietals dominate.
Body: fairly rich and medium finish which if you prefer strongly acidic or crisp whites can be like an annoying houseguest.
Taste: mixed tropical fruit, but with a recognizable chardonnay structure and mid-finish that betrays the nose.
Analysis: for an inexpensive table wine, you could do worse. This is a product with more complexity than you might expect in $5-$15 blend. For sure it is schizophrenic but some varietal character shines through, which is much more than you can say for a lot of popular brands in this price range. If that Yellowtail 1.5L in the grocery aisle tempts you, absolutely do yourself a favor and splurge on this bottle. For everyone else, this mash-up tastes about how you might guess based on the composition and reasonable pedigree. A pass for the strict chardonnay drinker, a possibility for the adventurous pinot grigio enthusiast. I’m guessing I don’t need to give advice to those who know what a Rhone style white is.
For a point of reference, the other bottles available for drinking last night in our house included: 05’ Peju cab, '07 Lewis Cellars cab, '06 Sanguis Novillero, '04 Frazier cab, '05 Shafer relentless Syrah/PS blend, and '06 Mecury Head cab. (we had a bottle of Peju after the lab rat bottle). While we mostly consume more serious Reds occasionally in the summer months we open some whites. When asked for her opinion/tasting notes my wife provided: “Non-objectionable nose presents hints of grapefruit. Acidic taste with disappointing finish.” She obviously didn’t take her task as seriously, I think she just wanted to get on to the Peju. Hope this helps!
Oh how I want to buy this, but that last wootoff has killed the wine bank! It would be cool to add some more white to the wine rack though! WINE WOOT HOW YOU TEMPT ME!!
I’m probably a lot older than you are, and there are times I look at the proliferation of wineries that I can’t keep up with and wonder about the same thing. There was a time - up through the late 1980s - when a moderately serious wine enthusiast could taste almost every significant Cabernet in California. That’s no longer true - even professional tasters probably don’t taste everything they ought to. (and, a lot of it’s probably not worth tasting, sadly).
The wineries you name are mostly still around and mostly making high quality wine at high prices (Heitz, Stags Leap, Caymus) and you don’t see them here. Clos du Bois is around, but no longer at the level it was (I still have some 1978 Marlstone (Bordeaux blend) that is drinking well, though beginning to be past prime). Was never particularly enamoured of Souverain (though a few nice Chardonnays), Benziger or St. Clement. Those wineries do not sell on woot.
Less established wineries, like some of the best ones you see on woot, are exploring the alternative ways of getting the word out and broadening their audience. Examples are Corison, which is known well by really sophisticated Cabernet drinkers, but can use the alternative to expensive advertising to get the word out. I’m sure woot has helped get Cathy good publicity and a larger following. Likewise, Peter Wellington, who makes remarkably good wines but didn’t have widespread brand recognition, has done well with woot. Pedroncelli, known locally in Sonoma county forever as a ‘hidden value’ that was really good at a low price, has likewise broadened their audience through woot. and so on.
Fetzer one doesn’t see so much back east anymore - a pity, because they made sound, reasonable, mostly Medocino varietals that provided good value. They’re a pretty large producer now, IIRC.
Ty Caton is another winery which has been spectacularly successful on woot. Ty is a very personable and hospitable fellow who welcomes wooters and makes his wines available through the woot channel regularly. I don’t ever recall him not selling out an offer.
Thank you for a thoughtful review. A question: when you do open whites, what do you typically drink? That might assist people to put the perceptions you report in better perspective. I think it’s interesting that your wife’s perceptions of the nose (citrus vs. papaya) and flavor (acidic vs. medium/rich) is so very different from yours. Had each of you eaten different things before tasting? That could affect your palate.