Chateau Sociando-Mallet Haut Medoc 2011

Description

Château Sociando-Mallet is located in Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne in the Haut-Médoc appellation . It was bought by the Sossiondo family in 1633 and later became "sociando" due to a spelling error in the name of the owner family. In 1831 the estate became Château Sociando-Mallet when the owner of the château married Achille Mallet. But since 1969, it is Jean Gautreau who has been at the head of this Cru Bourgeois.

The estate covers 85 hectares with vines averaging 30 years old. They are planted on a Guntzian gravel soil and on a clay-limestone subsoil. The two main grape varieties are: Cabernet Sauvignon at 48%, Merlot at 47% as well as in very small quantities Cabernet Franc at 5%. The wine is aged for 12 months in barrels.

Château Sociando-Mallet produces a second wine; La demoiselle de Sociando-Mallet , which is a wine made from the youngest vines on the estate.

Award and rating

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate 91/100

Whether it is due to the vintage or to Gautreau, the ferocity of the tannins in many 2011 Medocs seems relatively tame, but there is no lacking concentration in this wine, which is clearly of classified growth quality. It boasts a dense purple color along with abundant notes of creme de cassis, crushed rocks and spring flowers. Medium-bodied and super-rich, it is a real revelation in a vintage such as 2011. Given its precociousness and silky tannins, it can be drunk in 2-3 years, or cellared for two decades.

Since I began covering these wines nearly 35 years ago, Sociando Maillet, with its fabulous terroir north of St.-Estephe, has been one of Bordeaux's greatest over-achievers. It continues to prove that it should have been included in the 1855 Classification of the Wines of the Medoc. Proprietor Jean Gautreau is an example of a winemaker/vigneron/viticulture who does everything right regardless of vintage conditions.