Ch.Sociando Mallet 2001 750ml

Wine Advocate #153, Jun 30, 2004, by Robert M. Parker, Jr.
This Haut-Medoc performed spectacularly on the two occasions I tasted it from bottle, even eclipsing its impressive showing from cask. It looks to be every bit as powerful as the 2000 ... not an easy achievement. A fabulous sleeper of the vintage, it tastes more like a first-growth than an unclassified offering. Its inky/blue/purple color is accompanied by a spectacular bouquet of lead pencil shavings, ink, blackberries, cedar, and earth. Full-bodied, with terrific texture, fabulous concentration, and moderately high tannin, this massive, atypical 2001 must be tasted to be believed. A brilliant achievement!

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.

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