Pity, because there are some lovely reds which would have been smashing towards the end of December.
lovely reds - Which I have either tried or bought of the sub £!5 bottles that were in the store before Christmas.
Ch Griviere, Cru Bourgeois 2002 £8.99 Majestic
A strange combination of dry wood and tropically ripe fruit. Dry and not particularly lovely in the mouth.
A differing opinion
or bottle varaince ?
There is bottle variance with the '02. I agree on the "drywood" observation, even with the better bottles - perhaps old green oak sawdust in a dusty loft floor for some years, which I found added a bit of something different ! The ripe fruit does lift well on the better ones - but "tropically ripe" though, is a bit OTT. The wine flavour is more harmonious (not so strange) after taking a glass and then finishing the bottle the next evening.
I didn't find the wine dry - If you want dry, that Greysac '06 is overly dry, because the tannic cut to the palate is hard / astringent and amplifies it. There is a massive difference between the '05s and '06s at this level.
Dry is so subjective.
Mouth feel - I thought it was satisfactory for a ten year CB, a bit short on lenght, on the tongue though, a bit soft if anything. But for £7.99 - you cant find a mature CB claret anywhere for that money in the UK - can you ?
You must have had a poor bottle, the wine fresh from the bottle, not openned-up ? Balsa wood ? - Dunno.