2003 | Chteau Sociando-Mallet | Haut-Medoc

Red Wine: 2003 | Chteau Sociando-Mallet | Haut-Medoc

Deep, dark ruby red color is virtually opaque. Black-fruit on the nose is overlaid by dusty notes. The dark fruit on the palate is tarry & earthy with plentiful dusty notes.

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Producer: Chteau Sociando-Mallet

Ratings: WA | 93 WS | 92

Vintage: 2003

Size: 750ml

ABV: 12.5%

Varietal: Bordeaux Blend Red

Country/Region: France, Bordeaux

Deep, dark ruby red color is virtually opaque. Black-fruit on the nose is overlaid by dusty notes. The dark fruit on the palate is tarry & earthy with plentiful dusty notes. The style is old-fashioned & austere. Acidity is soft & in combination with a light-weight structure produces a short finish.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The 2003 Sociando-Mallet is drinking brilliantly, wafting from the glass with a deep bouquet of blackberry and cassis mingled with hints of loamy soil, cigar box and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, layered and muscular, with a deep core of fruit, impressively lively acids and ample reserves of rich, powdery tannin, it is one of the real successes of the vintage.

• Wine Spectator: Beautiful and intense aromas of blackberry, lightly grilled meat and currant. Full-bodied, with loads of fruit and big, velvety tannins. Blockbuster.

Producer Information

Chteau Sociando-Mallet is a wine estate located in the northern Mdoc (the wines are bottled under Haut-Mdoc appellation), and generally regarded as the equal of many classed growths. Although not featured in the 1855 Bordeaux classification, the property was rated a fifth growth in wine trading site Liv-Ex's unofficial 2011 version. It has the reputation of making full-bodied, classically structured wines with firm tannins and great aging potential from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The property is situated in the commune of Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne, just to the north of the Saint-Estphe appellation, and its nearest neighbour is Chteau Charmail a few hundred meters to the west. It was bought by the ngociant and winemaker Jean Gautreau in 1969, when it was in a state of disrepair and had only 5 hectares (12 acres) of vines. A new winery was built, other buildings were renovated and the vineyard was replanted, with additional plots bought from neighbors. The property now covers 110 hectares (270 acres), of which 85 hectares (210 acres) are planted to vines. The main blocks are situated to the east of Saint-Seurin village around the chteau and estate buildings on the Baleyron hillock, a typical Mdoc bank of gravel on a clay subsoil close to the Gironde estuary. Numerous other small parcels are dotted around the village. Plantings are split almost equally between Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with just a small amount of Cabernet Franc. Wines are vinified in temperature-controlled concrete and stainless steel vats. Lots chosen for Sociando-Mallet are aged for 12 months in new French oak. La Demoiselle de Sociando-Mallet, the second wine, is made from vats not selected for the main wine, and is aged in around 25 percent new oak. The range is completed by the Jean Gautreau cuve which was introduced in 1995. This is a selection of the best barrels left over from the grand vin, and typically contains more Cabernet Sauvignon than Sociando-Mallet. Jean Gautreau, for decades associated with the estate, died in November 2019. He is succeeded by daughter Sylvie and grandson Arthur. The chteau ranked highly in the Bordeaux Cru Bourgeois classification for many years until this was dissolved amid legal wranglings from the 2006 vintage onwards.