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What We Say 2010 George's Riesling
SUPERIOR WINE ALERT:
Today’s Mendocino Riesling, from our friend Ty Caton, will impress you. It is among the best Rieslings we have tasted to date, earning it today’s special recognition.
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Mission Codename: Pleasure Principal
Operative: Agent Red
Objective: For our Elite Operatives, return to Ty Caton Vineyards, and retrieve Ty’s best-selling, stupendously fantastic, uber-delicious, 2010 Riesling
Mission Status: Accomplished!
Current Winery: Ty Caton Vineyards
Wine Subject: 2010 George’s Riesling
Winemaker: Ty Caton
Backgrounder: Riesling is a white grape variety which originated in the Rhine region of Germany. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas. The varietals high acidity makes it a wonderful food companion.
Riesling is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling white wines. Riesling wines are usually varietally pure and are seldom oaked. As of 2004, Riesling was estimated to be the world’s 20th most grown variety at 48,700 hectares (120,000 acres) but in terms of importance for quality wines, it is usually included in the top three white wine varieties together with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Riesling is a variety which is highly terroir-expressive, meaning that the character of Riesling wines is clearly influenced by the wine’s place of origin. Today’s Mendocino Riesling is a refreshing, sweet, crisp and well-balanced wine that deserves your attention.
Wine Spies Tasting Profile:
Look – Perfect clarity through the pale yellow heart of the wine. After swirling, tall legs form high up on the glass wall before moving very slowly downward.
Smell – Aromatic with a fresh, clean and sweet initial nose of fresh cut green apple, soft citrus and lemon curd. As the wine warms and opens up, fresh white flowers, lime and grapefruit emerge.
Feel – Tender and soft on entry, the wine quickly presents itself as softly dry, with bright acids and a hint of flinty minerality giving the wine a balanced feel.
Taste – On first sip, the wine shows a lovely sweetness, with white honey and sweet lemon. With each successive sit, this sweetness abates and the wine takes on more classic Riesling characteristics with fresh green apple, lime, lemon and mineral flavors.
Finish – Clean and crisp, with lingering fruit and white flower flavors. After a few moments, minerals and a hint of white pepper offer a lovely punctuation at the tail end.
Conclusion – This is a fantastic Riesling, from a winery that has produced some of ouf favorite Red varietals. Today’s 2010 Ty Caton George’s Riesling is a great summertime wine that we’ll be stocking up on for our covert gatherings. With great balance, this wine really delivers something for everyone. Not too dry and not too sweet, this wine is so approachable and so fun to drink. Riesling is widely recognized conveying a sense of place, or terroir, better than any other grape, and today’s Mendocino Riesling is unique among any of the examples that we have ever featured. Pair with a summer day, a front porch, a bucket of ice and good friends! This wine gets our heartiest recommendation.
Mission Report:
WINEMAKER INTEL BRIEFING DOSSIER
SUBJECT: Ty Caton
WINE EDUCATION: Various classes at UC Davis, most importantly on the job training.
WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY: Minimal intervention – our goal is to let the grapes tell their own story without intervening
WINEMAKER QUOTE: Actively Seeking Excellence
FIRST COMMERCIAL WINE RELEASE: December, 2002
WINEMAKER INTERVIEW
AGENT RED: Greetings, Ty. We are thrilled to be showing your 2010 George’s Riesling today. We always really love your wines, Ty, and today’s is really pretty spectacular.
TY: Thanks, Agent Red! Always a pleasure to share my wines with your Operatives.
RED: Was there a specific experience in your life that inspired your love of wine?
TY: Wine tasting in Napa with my cousins.
RED: What wine or winemaker has most influenced your winemaking style?
TY: Peter Mathis of Ravenswood
RED: Who do you make wine for?
TY: I’m a pleaser by nature – I enjoy entertaining people and wine is intricate part of the socialization process, which I love!
RED: Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today.
TY: This wine is a German style dry Riesling. It is less than 1% RS. These grapes are organic, certified CCOF. It’s one of my favorite wines to drink.
RED: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?
TY: It’s a porch pounder! A great summer wine. I like it with barbeque or even spicy Nepalese food
RED: In your opinion, what makes the Mendocino such a special place for Riesling?
TY: The climate!
RED: What is occupying your time at the winery these days?
TY: I’m actually spending a lot of time in the vineyard right now getting the irrigation working properly and working on shoot positioning.
RED: How would you recommend people approach your wines and wine in general?
TY: These wines are somewhat of a cross over – they can be sipped by themselves or enjoyed with a meal.
RED: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
TY: Our vineyard grapes are grown certified sustainable through Farming For Flavors grape growing program.
RED: Thank you so much for your time. We learned a lot about you – and your wine. Keep up the great work, we are big fans!
TY: Thanks Red, for the opportunity!
Wine Spies Vineyard Check:
The location of the Ty Caton Vineyards & winery can be seen in this satellite photo.
What the Winery Says
Ty Caton
About This Wine:
Beautiful aromas of green apple, lemon, lime and a touch of grapefruit greet the nose followed by flavors of lemon and a lingering lime finish. This is the ultimate summer wine.
About The Winery:
Ty Caton Vineyards is dedicated to creating wines of distinction with an authentic sense of place. Our commitment to excellence begins in the Caton Vineyard, where Winemaker Ty Caton sustainably farms all of the grapes used in our Sonoma Valley wine. As one of the few exclusively estate producers in Sonoma Valley, California, Ty personally works with the grapes from soil to glass. He handcrafts his wines in small lots with an acute awareness of the land that enables him to make wines that truly showcase the vineyards. Ty Caton Vineyards is forging a new definition of quality in winemaking and Actively Seeking Excellence.
About The Vineyard:
CATON VINEYARD – Located in the foothills of Sonoma Valley, the Caton Vineyard is defined by its sustainable farming and belief that healthier vineyards produce very unique and distinctive wines. The vineyards have multiple sun exposures, soil types, and vary in altitude over 300 feet between each other. Our meticulous farming practices showcase the love for our land and our passion for the wines that come from it.
Winemaking:
We achieve wines of authenticity by working with nature to showcase the true flavors of the grapes. Ty Caton personally manages the entire winemaking process, from planting the vines, to farming the grapes, to making the wine here in Sonoma Valley. By using exclusively estate grown grapes he is able to have complete control over the process and personally tend to the wine from soil to glass. His acute awareness of the land enables him to make wines that show the great potential of the vineyard site.
Ty Caton’s philosophy is that wine is a natural product and should be treated as such. His winemaking uses limited intervention, which allows the wines to speak for themselves and import the true expression of the vineyard. He ferments with wild yeast that naturally occurs in the grapes so that the wines are manipulated as little as possible. As a Sonoma Valley winemaker and grape grower he strives to produce the ‘wow factor’ by creating wines that are bold, highly extracted and beautifully structured. Ty Caton believes that blending is an art form and uses master blending techniques to combine different grape varieties and clones to create wines with many layers of complexity in aroma and flavor. By allowing the grapes to show their true character and enhancing it through blending, Ty Caton is forging a new definition of quality in Sonoma Valley winemaking.
Technical Analysis:
Varietal: 100% Riesling
Appellation: Mendocino County
Farming Practices: Made from Organically grown grapes, certified by CCOF
Alcohol: 14.2%
Production: 350 Cases
Vintage: 2010
Bottled: June 2011
