Ty Caton 2009 Upper Bench Merlot
$44.99 + $5 shipping
CONDITION: Red
PRODUCT: 2 2009 Upper Bench Merlot Sonoma Valley, Caton Vineyard
CT link above

Winery website

Previous offer:
12/5/11

Wow! sooo tempted.....

EZ pass! two TC merlots for $50 or SIX Toolbox werlots for $65? Hmmmmmm

Bring on the QPRs!

Bought two last time plus one from an earlier mixed offering. Have one loaded, but haven't cracked into it yet. Too bad I won't be home in time to do any ratting. Anyone else have notes yet from the last time that it was up?

losthighwayz wrote:EZ pass! two TC merlots for $50 or SIX Toolbox werlots for $65? Hmmmmmm

Bring on the QPRs!

I'm with you. Lucky for me my palette hasn't evolved enough to appreciate the difference in each sip to justify the up charge. Here's to hoping that never changes!

I wish I had enough wine knowledge (and written notes from when we had these last time) to properly give a review about this, but I can tell you this was one of my favorite woots ever. It was a Merlot, but it was more than a Merlot - it had a depth to it that was more like a Cab, but it was really smooth and definitely had the fruit without being too fruit forward. All I can say is that we meant to drink one and cellar one, but our cellaring time lasted about a week - we just didn't have the restraint!

not an especially awesome wine...bought some last time up and wasn't impressed. it came in last on my list of tastiness from the last woot off shipping order i received. it's just got a ...meh, same old, same old, feel to it. i'm not that into merlots though, so i could be missing the mark.

I've got a bunch of Caton juice (Cab, PS, Ty's Red, TyTanium), but haven't been able to try any of it yet (except for the Racchus, which was a disappointment in both red and white) because it's too young to appreciate (all '09s). No need to add more.

This is just sad... In the old days (Nightghost, anyone?), there would have been a couple of dozen "autobuy" comments, people asking serious questions about the wine, and Ty would be here to answer them.

rugrats2001 wrote:This is just sad... In the old days (Nightghost, anyone?), there would have been a couple of dozen "autobuy" comments, people asking serious questions about the wine, and Ty would be here to answer them.

I agree with this comment, but there are a few problems. First, this is a woot-off, so the odds of winery participation on most offerings are very small. Second, as stated above, these are very young wines, and have been offered here several times already (I think this is probably the 4th time I've seen this wine, either along as a mix in the last year) therefore most people who wanted this have already bought it, but no on one has tried it yet because it is too young to try in Ty's style. Third, $25 a bottle isn't cheap for something that most people haven't tried yet and probably won't crack open for another two years.

rugrats2001 wrote:This is just sad... In the old days (Nightghost, anyone?), there would have been a couple of dozen "autobuy" comments, people asking serious questions about the wine, and Ty would be here to answer them.

Yea, I know. I miss NightGhost too. IRT: this offering. I bought it the last time it was around. Put me also in the "I really like it" camp. Considering buying again.

In my limited experience with TC wines I have found them to be overly New world in stkle, i.e. too fruit forward and non descript. The only exception wad the Tytanium which was outstanding. Don't get me wrong, I love New world wines when done right accoriding to MY taste buds! Moreover, TC wines seem to be priced about double of what they are truly worth. For example, the Tytanium is listed arpund $80 in the tasting room but really drinks like a $40 wine IMHO. Finally, I can get great QPRs in merlots such as White Oak, Toolbox (have not had but suspect will be great) and Pellegrini, all of which I got for $11 or less shipped.

Ty is an auto-buy!

I hate to be the party pooper here, but of all the Woot favorites: Wellington, Corison, Red Zeppelin, etc. Ty Caton stands out for me as the biggest disappointment.

I've bought tons based on Woot "auto-buy" hype and thus far(with the notable exception of Tytanium) have found that I bought a lot of average wine.

I am a former member of their wine-club as well and find the coveted QPR few and far-between with Ty's most recent wines..

i recently drank one.
didn't take any notes, as it was drunk with family over pizza and pork chop sandwich. i did remember thinking, wow this went well with food.

my mother, who prefers water over white wine over red wine, thought this was very good. smooth and easy drinking for her.

WilfBrim wrote:Yea, I know. I miss NightGhost too. IRT: this offering. I bought it the last time it was around. Put me also in the "I really like it" camp. Considering buying again.

Can you offer any tasting notes? Of all the varietals I have tried, Merlot is the one that is the most "hit or miss" for me. I've had some that I loved, some that I hated and many in-between.

I tend to prefer a smooth, fruit-forward style with subtle oak and soft tannins. Would this fit the bill?

losthighwayz wrote: Moreover, TC wines seem to be priced about double of what they are truly worth. For example, the Tytanium is listed arpund $80 in the tasting room but really drinks like a $40 wine IMHO. Finally, I can get great QPRs in merlots such as White Oak, Toolbox (have not had but suspect will be great) and Pellegrini, all of which I got for $11 or less shipped.

Agreed! My favorite Ty Caton so far has been the Blitzen that was on here last year. That had good QPR.

sukeiasa wrote:i recently drank one.
didn't take any notes, as it was drunk with family over pizza and pork chop sandwich. i did remember thinking, wow this went well with food.

my mother, who prefers water over white wine over red wine, thought this was very good. smooth and easy drinking for her.

I am sure it was smooth and went well with food but so do many wines that can be had in tthe $10-$15 sweet spot. I just think that $25 a bit steep for what i would likely get from this offering.

sukeiasa wrote:i recently drank one.
didn't take any notes, as it was drunk with family over pizza and pork chop sandwich. i did remember thinking, wow this went well with food.

my mother, who prefers water over white wine over red wine, thought this was very good. smooth and easy drinking for her.

I am sure it was smooth and went well with food but so do many wines that can be had in tthe $10-$15 sweet spot. I just think that $25 a bit steep for what i would likely get from this offering.

rlmanzo wrote:I've bought tons based on Woot "auto-buy" hype and thus far(with the notable exception of Tytanium) have found that I bought a lot of average wine.

What other wine.woot classics would you describe as average? I agree on the Caton, however I enjoyed the Wellingtons and Red Zeppelin wines very much. I'm hoping Miller Wine Works puts out another WW offering but I won't hold my breath.

losthighwayz wrote:I am sure it was smooth and went well with food but so do many wines that can be had in tthe $10-$15 sweet spot. I just think that $25 a bit steep for what i would likely get from this offering.

for sure, i don't think anyone is forcing you to buy or not buy anything. i merely offered my unpolished, unprofessional, yum or not yum comment because someone asked for comments on the wine. note i didn't say anything about qpr nor did i recommend anyone to buy...

but since we're on that topic, this is not an auto buy for me. i have much more interest in tc PS or tytaniums, if and when i have more cellar space. due to current cellar situation, i'm interested in buying drink now mature wines unless it's something too good to pass up...

on another note, i would love to see some zepplins on ww... the black zeppelin from a while back was pretty awesome...

sukeiasa wrote:for sure, i don't think anyone is forcing you to buy or not buy anything. i merely offered my unpolished, unprofessional, yum or not yum comment because someone asked for comments on the wine. note i didn't say anything about qpr nor did i recommend anyone to buy...

but since we're on that topic, this is not an auto buy for me. i have much more interest in tc PS or tytaniums, if and when i have more cellar space. due to current cellar situation, i'm interested in buying drink now mature wines unless it's something too good to pass up...

on another note, i would love to see some zepplins on ww... the black zeppelin from a while back was pretty awesome...

I'm keeping my eye our for Wellington Port that I may have convinced Peter to sell on here recently.

sukeiasa wrote:
on another note, i would love to see some zepplins on ww... the black zeppelin from a while back was pretty awesome...

I decided the Black Zeppelin PS was so good I ordered directly from Stillman recently - couldn't wait for the Woot! gods. Price was very good, but can't beat that WW shipping.

sukeiasa wrote:for sure, i don't think anyone is forcing you to buy or not buy anything. i merely offered my unpolished, unprofessional, yum or not yum comment because someone asked for comments on the wine. note i didn't say anything about qpr nor did i recommend anyone to buy...

but since we're on that topic, this is not an auto buy for me. i have much more interest in tc PS or tytaniums, if and when i have more cellar space. due to current cellar situation, i'm interested in buying drink now mature wines unless it's something too good to pass up...

on another note, i would love to see some zepplins on ww... the black zeppelin from a while back was pretty awesome...

my comment was not intended as a knock on you but rather a general comment that in my opinion there are many options out there that will deliver great quality at a lower cost than the current offering. I agree that Tytanium would be very tempting.

For perspective - I agree with some posters. I buy a fair amount of woot wine. I have had some amazing ones (Raised With Wolves) and some bummers (Arizona Stronghold). It's just fun and exciting to buy an unknown and be pleasantly surprised. The Arizona winery and the winery from Michigan (actually poured this one down the drain rather than drink it) made me limit my purchases to California (mostly Napa area) and Washington. Ty Caton wine made me start considering - For $20, what can I buy at Von's at their 30% sale that I would enjoy more. There's always a list. It's not bad, it just didn't make me want to pull the trigger again. Of course, it's all personal taste and opinions. If you like it, it's brialliant to you!

rlmanzo wrote:I hate to be the party pooper here, but of all the Woot favorites: Wellington, Corison, Red Zeppelin, etc. Ty Caton stands out for me as the biggest disappointment.

I've bought tons based on Woot "auto-buy" hype and thus far(with the notable exception of Tytanium) have found that I bought a lot of average wine...

I have to agree with you - I bought some wines based on the autobuy and you will regret not getting this comments, and have been disappointed about half the time. The most disappointing being Ty (sorry all those who love these wines!). I'm hoping that aging will work on the bottles I have, but often when I age something for the appropriate 2-3 years I find that its gone past its prime and is only good for marinating brisket - a rather expensive marinade!

I've had better luck just randomly picking wines - loved the TLC from a few years ago for instance. However, my faves on woot so far have been bought on the autobuy premise - everything Scott Harvey (never been disappointed and would love to justify the price of a Jana if it ever comes up again) and the Woot Cellars Triacipedis are the best I've ever had of pretty much any wine.

Occasionally I get the aging on some wines spot on. I bought a V Sattui reisling 4-pack about 4 years ago and initally hated both wines in the pack. They became bases for sangria just to become palatable. But I found a bottle of the off dry hidden the other day and needed a white for some risotto. It turned out to be perfect - sweet without being cloying, perfect acidity to keep it bright and had no metalic mouth feel that I often find with whites of all sorts. A lovely surprise!

Seeing as this is a board for a specific wine tho, I should get back to the point. Which is: I would say to anyone to try anything once, as long as its within your budget. And this Ty sounds like in a year it should be pretty tasty.

guyinshades wrote: and the winery from Michigan (actually poured this one down the drain rather than drink it)

Just curious which you are referring to here, the St. Julian?

North316 wrote:Just curious which you are referring to here, the St. Julian?

Yes. That's the one. I bought their vertical offering and couldn't get past the first one. The other three sit and wait for their turn in some red sauce....

chipgreen wrote:Can you offer any tasting notes? Of all the varietals I have tried, Merlot is the one that is the most "hit or miss" for me. I've had some that I loved, some that I hated and many in-between.

I tend to prefer a smooth, fruit-forward style with subtle oak and soft tannins. Would this fit the bill?

I don't have any tasting notes (this was a while ago) but from your brief description I think our tastes in Merot overlap very significantly.

hillig wrote:What other wine.woot classics would you describe as average? I agree on the Caton, however I enjoyed the Wellingtons and Red Zeppelin wines very much. I'm hoping Miller Wine Works puts out another WW offering but I won't hold my breath.

I meant only with regard to Ty Caton. The rest have been superb.

I only mentioned those other wines as they(along with Ty) seem to represent the Woot favorites.

Although I would venture to say that Ty Caton stock is plummeting....

mawy wrote:
Seeing as this is a board for a specific wine tho, I should get back to the point. Which is: I would say to anyone to try anything once, as long as its within your budget. And this Ty sounds like in a year it should be pretty tasty.

These are wise words. I've really started refining my tastes over the last few years by trying new things (thanks to all of you) and not just sticking to 'safe bets'.

Cheers!

Why have we not seen Medlock Ames in woot offs, I have both merlot's & cabs sleeping to save for special times, but would love more, anyone else out there love the Medlock Ames wines?

So, I have a pair of the 2008's in my cellar from last year's woot and I'll just note that only 4 people bothered to write anything in cellartracker about them despite how many were sold.

There have to be at least four people posting here that have an opinion having drunk theirs ...

Just gotta say, Ty's wine is an autobuy for me. Cheers.

North316 wrote:I agree with this comment, but there are a few problems. First, this is a woot-off, so the odds of winery participation on most offerings are very small. Second, as stated above, these are very young wines, and have been offered here several times already (I think this is probably the 4th time I've seen this wine, either along as a mix in the last year) therefore most people who wanted this have already bought it, but no on one has tried it yet because it is too young to try in Ty's style. Third, $25 a bottle isn't cheap for something that most people haven't tried yet and probably won't crack open for another two years.

micahfishes already chimed in. Wasn't a fan.
I had it with a group of folks from woot in the tasting room. We wanted a bottle share for dinner at Fig in Glen ellen. We bought this because nothing was particularly impressive and it was discounted. It was only slightly better at dinner, but all of us concluded it wasn't anything to buy again.

I remember really enjoying this, I just don't have tasting notes. I think it paired well with my garlic lasagna as I usually pair big bold reds with that. You may fire me for not posting tasting notes!

Anyhow, I see the roomba has been approved for a square trade warranty but not the wine. How rude!

I just cracked one of these on Sunday that I had with a wild turkey dinner. It was great. In for one!

WilfBrim wrote:I don't have any tasting notes (this was a while ago) but from your brief description I think our tastes in Merot overlap very significantly.

Thanks for the reply. I have 1 bottle of this from a previous Ty 3-pack sampler offer and now I will have to consider buying more. Decisions, decisions...

Ty Caton cut short after only 57 woots in a woot-off. Maybe the Mayans were right after all.