Stuffed Animals, Unstuffed Retirement Plans
TASTING NOTES:
Ty Caton Estate Upper Bench Merlot - “This elegant Merlot greets the nose with rich aromas of ripe cherry and violets, followed by a lush mouth feel with layers of blackberry, currant, and a touch of chocolate. These flavors combine with soft and supple tannins to create a long, silky smooth finish.” (AbV 14.9%)
Ty Caton Estate Ty’s Red - “With savory aromas and a deep luscious color, this much-loved wine strokes your palate with flavors of dark cherry, blackberry and cassis. The thick velvety texture gives way to toasty oak and finishes with just a hint of chocolate. Enjoy with your favorite grilled meats.” (AbV 14.9%)
Ty Caton Estate Petite Sirah - “This deep inky wine tempts you with delicious aromas of blackberry bramble that embrace subtle hints of mint. The deep indigo tones unveil dark fruit flavors and a big structured mouth feel, then leave you with a light toasty finish lingering on your palate.” (AbV 15.2%)
VARIETALS: 2022 Ty Caton Estate Upper Bench Merlot: 100% Merlot; 2022 Ty Caton Estate Ty’s Red: Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot; 2022 Ty Caton Estate Petite Sirah: 100% Petite Sirah
BARRELS: 18 months, 60% new French Oak
PAIRS WITH: Your favorite grilled meats.
THAT REMINDS ME OF: The name Ty Caton.
There is a version of this where I spend three paragraphs on Ty Cobb, the baseball player, because “Caton” sounds like “Cobb” if you say it fast and you’ve had a glass of the Petite Sirah. But Ty Cobb was a genuinely terrible person and this wine is very good, so we’re going somewhere else.
“Ty” is one of those names that exists in a permanently unresolved state. Is it short for Tyler? Tyrone? Tyrannosaurus? Nobody ever asks, because “Ty” projects a particular confidence that makes follow-up questions feel rude. It’s the name of a person who shows up to the meeting already knowing what he’s going to say. It’s also, famously, the name on every single one of those small heart-shaped tags attached to Beanie Babies — the “Ty” of Ty Inc., Ty Warner, who at the peak of the Beanie Baby craze in the late 1990s was generating roughly $700 million a year selling small stuffed animals to people who genuinely believed Princess the Bear was a retirement strategy. At one point he was one of the wealthiest people in America. The whole thing collapsed, as bubbles do, leaving attics full of carefully preserved pellet-filled frogs in zipper bags.
Ty Caton founded his vineyard in 1997. Right in the thick of it. While one Ty was carefully hanging holographic tags on limited-edition tie-dye bears, another Ty was up on a volcanic hillside in Moon Mountain planting Merlot. History will record which of them made the better call.
