This has turned a beautiful golden colour after 4 years in the bottle.

It's classic Pouilly Fume. Smoke and apple with a touch of nut.

Or Elder...as Mel would say

Best surviving sauvignon from 2004*.

S
* Obvously there isn't much competition.....but that's not the point.

Did you buy it recently? Have you had access to a Nicolas for a while. Round here it's quite recent. It just seems like a strange wine for them to hold onto. If I went somewhere for dinner and they had the wine you've described, with the nut and dark colour, I'd be thinking "ooh Goosegogs wouldn't like this one" as I always think you go for purity and freshness in your Sauvignons.

_________________
mel

Nicolas replaced Oddbins in Cardiff city centre about 18 months ago

I am not impressed with them as they mostly seem to be trying to shift French tat at expensive prices to halfwitted British plonkers like me.

However, in my defence, they rarely succeed but I went in yesterday to see if they had any of Henri Pelle's basic MS from 2005 which was one of the best wines i've ever had. They didn't, but did recommend this which despite the vintage is superb.

I agree that the golden colour and lower acidity is not what I look for in a sauvignon but the flavour is stunning. It's as good as the very best Pouilly Fumes. It's flavour is much like the Clos De Ratier MS ( a different Pelle wine ) at Waitrose only more intense.

Btw the Clos De Ratier has gone up from £7.99 to £10.99 at Waitrose.

http://www.waitrosewine.com/230211200/Product.aspx ( £10.44 online )

Tesco have also increased the price of their French wines by absurd amounts.

If they're not careful the French could price themselves right out of the market..