Taste of container-grown tomatoes?

[RT_Peasant]

I'm curious what your experience has been with the taste of container-grown tomatoes vs. in-ground tomatoes. In my limited experience with containers (5 plants), the container-grown tomatoes taste much better than in-ground tomatoes.

The difference was most pronounced with cherry tomatoes. Last year, I grew 5 grape tomatoes in the ground, and 2 grape tomatoes in containers. All but one were the same variety, Santa. The container-grown tomatoes were half the size, but tasted like candy. The in-ground tomatoes were big, watery and bland. (See picture, in-ground on left, container-grown on right)

I've also grown Bloody Butcher, Rutgers, and Cherokee Purple in containers. Again, the container-grown tomatoes were much smaller and much less productive, but the taste was much more concentrated.

FWIW, my containers are top-watered, and the plants tend to be very small and stressed. I'm starting to think that's a good thing if you care more about flavor than productivity.