Sociando Mallet is a wonderful success story.
Jean Gautreau, a wine broker turned négociant, bought a tiny, little-known, and much-neglected vineyard in the northern Médoc in 1969. These 5 hectares of vines in Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne, just north of Saint Estèphe, have since grown to 83 hectares and the estate has gone on to a earn a stellar reputation.
Sociando Mallet (54% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 4% Cabernet Franc) is located quite close to the Gironde Estuary, making for a very temperate microclimate. The terroir consists of gravel soil overlaying a deep clay-limestone subsoil. The vines are an average of 35 years old.
I have only visited the château once, at which time I was impressed at how well-maintained everything (buildings, landscaping, vines, cellars…) was. I did a horizontal tasting that proved the wine’s excellent regularity, even in so-called off years. I would describe Sociando Mallet as a Médoc lovers Médoc, not one for label drinkers. Prices are definitely in the affordable range, and the wine represents very good value for money. Sociando Mallet is so well-known at this point that they decided not to submit their candidacy for inclusion in the cru bourgeois classification.
A week ago, I opened a bottle of 2000 Sociando Mallet, decanting it two hours before the meal. The color was beautifully deep and lustrous. The nose was ultra-classic, showing the hallmarks of fine Médoc: pencil shavings, humus, essence of blackcurrant, and incense. The wine was almost as good on the palate, with smooth, resolved tannin and a cool long aftertaste. At age 24, this Sociando Mallet from a great vintage was at its peak and as good as many a bottle of classified growths I’ve had, even if the depth and length did not quite qualify it for the uppermost echelon.
Jean Gautreau died in 2019, but his name lives on in a special cuvée of Sociando Mallet amounting to 3 special barrels per vintage. I do not know this wine, but have one bottle each from the 2005, 2009, and 2016 vintages and am looking forward to trying them.