The 2003 Sociando-Mallet was the winning bottle in the May Installment of Pick My Next Bottle. The wine was decanted for two hours and served with steaks.
Chateau Sociando-Mallet is a 225-acre estate in St.-Seurin-de-Cadourne, which is part of the Haut-Medoc appellation just north of the city of Bordeaux. It has been owned since 1969 by Jean Gautreau. After many improvements and updating the chateau and vineyards, the estate is today considered by some reviewers, including Robert M. Parker Jr., to be the jewel of the Haut-Medoc. The vineyards are planted to 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Franc. Though the estate is unclassified, Parker says the chateau makes “uncompromising wines of extremely high quality….Sociando-Mallet is easily the equal of many of the classified growths.”
Dark crimson in color with no signs of bricking. 13% ABV. Awesome nose of graphite, leather, cedar and tobacco. Fresh and medium in body with great minerality. The palate is laser like and shows cherries, black currants, cassis, and herbs. Drying, somewhat rustic tannins on an exceptionally long finish. This wine has a long live ahead of it. I’ll check in on another bottle in 2016 and suspect the wine will age well for another 5-8 years.
My rating: 93 points.
To my taste this wine showed none of the ill effects of the 2003 vintage. It is not prematurely aging and in fact still seems to be on the upside. A glass set aside for 24 hours was absolutely gorgeous.
Super wine and a great value at $50 or so for the ’09 and ’10.
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Nice review, Tom! Love your description of the nose. I’ll open mine in 2016 as well and we can compare notes. I’ve got some of the 2000 Sociando-Mallet yet to be opened, so a new experience awaits. Will probably open one of the 2000s in 2015. Cheers!
Thanks Peter. I don’t think I would be in any rush on the ’00 Socando-Mallet either.