2002 was touted as a good year with an over abundance of grapes due to more recent plantings. Long hang times, with little rain and not many hot days were the high points. There were some very good wines that year, but, I remember we had some that were very good upon release and later, seemed to shut down or become disjointed. There was no common denominator we could identify, such as vineyard, winemaker, grape or winery.
As far as a WAG, the only thing different was more grapes from juvenile vines. Since Dominus is a blend it’s even harder to identify a culprit without knowing where they were sourcing ALL the grapes.
An aside:
I found a case of 2003 Tensley Colson Canyon Syrah stashed in the downstairs rumpus, (storage room) last week. The bottles were upright. Don’t know why it was there when it should have gone into the one of the wine refrigerators. That particular room has major temperature swings, but is usually the coldest room in the house. I pulled 3 bottles out and looked at them. The first one looked like nearly clear liquid with sediment filling the bottom half of the bottle. The other two looked fine. Haven’t opened any of them but that does indicate differences in bottles maintained in the same environment.
?? Dominus has consistently made between 3,000 (10) and 8,500 ('97) cases since the '84 vintage with an average of just under 6,000 cases. Since when did they start making wine with purchased fruit?
No info provided on decant time?