2003 Sainsbury

[LGTrotter]

Opened and drunk without much ceremony. I let it breathe for a few hours and did not notice much change in it over the 2 days I drank this one.

Very dark in colour, black at the centre and notably dark at the rim, looking almost poorly decanted, but I was careful about this so I think it is a feature of the wine. The nose was compact and with the dustyness of youth rather than age. Twirling the glass showed the fruit a bit more, but still quite closed. The palate was full of minerals and tannin at the front. The tannins though prominent do not feel problematic, being fine grained enough to suggest they will integrate rather than dry out. The fruit is more noticeable in the middle and at the end. There seems to be plenty of it. However despite this positive description it seemed rather muddled and sprawling overall. It should pull all the ends in eventually, I hope. Give it ten years.

I bought this just before Christmas on one of the buy 6 get 25% off deals. I was delighted to see the 2003 back on the shelves but I am unsure if it is the same stuff as I bought several years ago which I was most impressed with. A number of explanations suggest themselves, I will leave readers to decide between them.
1) it is the same wine and it did not have enough time to settle after buying it.
2) it is the same wine which is wandering a bit in middle youth.
3) it isn't the same wine.

[DRT]

1) it is the same wine and it did not have enough time to settle after buying it.
2) it is the same wine which is wandering a bit in middle youth.
3) it isn't the same wine.

All of those are plausible but we do have evidence of 3 being the culprit from Sainsbury's main competitor who has sold at least two, possibly three, different 1994 VPs under the same label.