Ch.Sociando Mallet 2012 750ml

Wine Advocate #218, Apr 2015
Once again proprietor Jean Gautreau has hit pay dirt with a beautiful blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. Wonderfully sweet, ripe tannins seem to be a rule of thumb from this great terroir just to the north of St.-Estèphe’s Château Montrose. A beautiful deep ruby/purple color, decent acidity, medium to full-bodied mouthfeel and stunning fruit put this wine right in the midst of the best classified crus from the Médoc, yet it has never been classified. Go figure. Softer than I would have suspected (and I’ve been following and buying this wine since the mid-1970s), this wine will still age beautifully for 10-15+ years.

Chateau Sociando-Mallet is an unclassed Bordeaux wine producer from the appellation Haut-Medoc. The winery is located on the Left Bank of the Bordeaux wine regions, in the commune of Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne north of Saint-Estephe, France. Despite its estimation as a producer of high quality wine, it was neither ranked in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 (not existing at the time), nor is it listed among Medoc's Cru Bourgeois, due to a decision of its owner Jean Gautreau not to enter it for such classification.
The winery also produces a second wine named La Demoiselle de Sociando-Mallet.
Situated on what was in 1633 the residence of a Basque nobleman named Sievre Sociando, the first documentation of the estate mentions its nobles terres. After its acquisition around 1850 by Madame Mallet, it was recorded in the 1883 edition of Cocks & Feret along with Chateau Verdignan as the leading cru of Saint-Seurin.
Sociando was a forgotten and derelict property of vastly reduced land by the time it was bought by Jean Gautreau, a negociant from Lesparre, in 1969. The estate has since seen considerable expansion and modernisation, and enjoys high prices and a good reputation in today's wine market.

Meats, Beef and Venison