Yesterday, I wrote about Corey Creek’s regular chardonnay from the 2006 vintage, a wine that I thought was this wine when tasted blind because of all the vanilla and oak aromas and flavors. Today, it’s time to take a look at the reserve bottling.
Darker in the glass, this one is a medium gold, but the aromas show plenty of oak influence — though in a slightly different way. Here, the oak comes through as a butterscotch and caramel character with toast, spice-roasted apples and a faint doughy, yeasty note.
The palate is medium-full bodied and much like the regular bottling, the texture is terrific — from start to finish. It’s balanced with acidity, but again, the oak is overwhelming the fruit. There’s a little apple-lemon here and some of the yeasty and spice flavors are nice, but not enough to counteract the oak.
It’s hard to say if it truly lacks fruit or if the fruit was just bludgeoned into submission here.
Again, if you like this style, this wine has some redeeming value, but at $40, I expect much more.
Tomorrow, we’ll start talking about the recent releases from Bedell/Corey Creek that did impress.
Grape(s): 100% chardonnay
Producer: Corey Creek Vineyards
AVA: North Fork of Long Island
Price: $40
Rating: (2 out of 5 | Average)