Another Butter Bunch gathering before transfers. First up was Creamery, because even the wine shop manager couldn't recommend it because it was too "buttery" (in Korean, which I do not know but members of the Butter Bunch do). Also because some old reddit posts also mentioned it. Voyager Estate was because someone I trust suggested it, but she also admitted it won't be California power. Had this over raw squid, was finally able to get in.

Creamery, California, Chardonnay, 2019, 14.5% abv.

Nose: corn! But a sort of not fresh corn, not canned corn, not steamed corn, but closer to cooked unbuttered corn that has been left out on the cold table.

Palate: medium body, entry, mid, and back palate is corn. A pinch of citrus, minute parts of lemons, limes, grapefruits, and that's about it. No other fruit derivatives, vanilla, butter, cream, salt, chalk, metals, spices, or alcohol.

Finish: short, corn. Where's the cream?

Vernacular: nose is corn. Medium body that reflects the nose, light acidity, virtually no minerality or alcohol. Finish is short and also reflects the palate. One trick pony.

Supposedly 100% barrel fermented with full malolactic fermentation. 7 months of barrel aging in 60% American and 40% French oak. From vineyards across California: Monterey, Paso Robles, and Clarksburg. Well, at least it's better than lemon-citrus combinations typical of current American Chardonnay. Too one-dimensional.

Voyager Estate MJW, Margaret River, Chardonnay, 2021, 13% abv.

Tech sheets from the shop show 9 months in French oak, 32% new wood. Whole-bunch pressed to barrel, with wild yeast ferment and 50% malolactic. "Batonnage over 11 months in barrel before transfer to stainless steel barriques for a fruther three months. This wine blends both Gingin and clone 95 Chardonnay". Sounds good.

Nose: initially herbal/boiled pork, bit of fresh paint, transitions to a light lemon juice and citrus blend of aromas. Definitely not it's strong point.

Palate: medium body, entry is light fruit juice, wood, mid palate shows sweet vanilla cream, honey butter, sweet almond paste, with all these oak related elements being light to medium, hints of white peppercorn and lemon juice, back palate hints at alcohol, oak wood, some stronger white peppercorn which takes over most senses on the few initial sips. Strangely enough, ALL of the vanilla/oak flavors disappear within 30 minutes leaving typical lemon and citrus flavors and a wanting palate. An amazing disappearance act that would make David Coppefield blush more than the Epstein files! Horrible.

Finish: short, alcohol, oak wood, hints of white peppercorn, but like the palate these all reduce to typical lemon juice residuals.

Vernacular: initial nose was herbal and citrus oriented. Medium body with light to medium oak, acidity that intensified with time, little to no minerality, but noticeable alcohol at the end. Should be noted that the oak elements disappear after approximately 30 minutes of in bottle air time.

This started off very promising, having me hoping the oak derivates would intensify… or something, but they all just vanished! Back in the ice bucket, out of the ice bucket, new glasses, we tried different combinations, but the "new oak" elements really disappeared. What kind of wood was the wine in? Was it the food we had? The atmosphere and mood was good. Is my metabolism so fast that I became acclimated to the wine after a few sips? My friends also experienced the same surprise, so maybe not. Was there… oak flavored liquid in the wine? Is the base really that… boring? Wine Advocate gave this 95 in 2023.