2000 Sociando Mallet

[AlexR]

Sociando Mallet is a wonderful success story.

Jean Gautreau, a wine broker turned négociant, bought a tiny, little-known, and much-neglected vineyard in the northern Médoc in 1969. These 5 hectares of vines in Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne, just north of Saint Estèphe, have since grown to 83 hectares and the estate has gone on to a earn a stellar reputation.

Sociando Mallet (54% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 4% Cabernet Franc) is located quite close to the Gironde Estuary, making for a very temperate microclimate. The terroir consists of gravel soil overlaying a deep clay-limestone subsoil. The vines are an average of 35 years old.

I have only visited the château once, with Izak Litwar, at which time I was impressed at how well-maintained everything (buildings, landscaping, vines, cellars…) was. We did a horizontal tasting that proved the wine’s excellent regularity, even in so-called off years. I would describe Sociando Mallet as a Médoc lovers Médoc, not one for label drinkers. Prices are definitely in the affordable range, and the wine represents very good value for money. Sociando Mallet is so well-known at this point that they decided not to submit their candidacy for inclusion in the cru bourgeois classification.

A week ago, I opened a bottle of 2000 Sociando Mallet, decanting it two hours before the meal. The color was beautifully deep and lustrous. The nose was ultra-classic, showing the hallmarks of fine Médoc: pencil shavings, humus, essence of blackcurrant, and incense. The wine was almost as good on the palate, with smooth, resolved tannin and a cool long aftertaste. At age 24, this Sociando Mallet from a great vintage was at its peak and as good as many a bottle of classified growths I’ve had, even if the depth and length did not quite qualify it for the uppermost echelon.

Jean Gautreau died in 2019, but his name lives on in a special cuvée of Sociando Mallet amounting to 3 special barrels per vintage. I do not know this wine, but have one bottle each from the 2005, 2009, and 2016 vintages and am looking forward to trying them.

Alex R.

[Jay Winton]

There has been a fair amount of discussion on this wine and vintage. I didn't like the flavor profile from bottles opened several years ago but the green element seems to have disappeared fairly recently leaving a very nice wine as you note. Patience, a good thing.

[AlexR]

Jay,

I'm aware of herbaceousness issues with Sociando Mallet in the past, 1982 being a case in point.

However, the bottle of the 2000 I drank did not have that problem.

Perhaps other people have had a different experience. Bottle variation is a well-known factor.
And also, as you say, (nearly) a quarter of a century's ageing can change a wine.

All the best,
Alex

[JimHow]

I enjoyed 7 of the 12 bottles I drank from my case of 2000 Sociando. I wasn't as off-put by the greenness as some, this is a trait of the 2000 Pichon Lalande that many seem to find a positive rather than a negative.

[Comte Flaneur]

Thanks for the note Alex I really loved this when we drank it about five years ago - based on that one encounter one of my favourite Sociandos

Has any one else had any other mature Sociandos recently?

[robert goulet]

a few years ago, at a big Christmas wine tasting loaded with bangers, 2000 Sociando was my WOTN...always so consistent.

and I always prefer the base Sociando over the big brother
Jean Gautreau

[Jay Winton]

I've got a lone bottle from the first case enabled by the Devils here-96SM. Maybe it's time for a beach tasting, come one, come all.

[Claudius2]

Alex
I wonder though if there has been some bottle variation, or is it just ageing?
I bought a case of both 2000 and 2001 en primeur.
I wasn't keen on the 2001, and the few drank several years ago were too herbaceous and minty for moi.
It was quite tannic from memory but not overly so.
I can cope with a touch of berbs in most reds and in fact it is quite nice when meshed with good fruit. yet the fruit seemed to be hidden below it somewhere. maybe it emerged later.

The 2000 I thought was a better wine though I did notice the same herbal characters but it was a more balanced wine.
Yet I did get some variation within the same OWC that had been in air cond storage for many years.

The best vintage to me of SM was 1996, and it was surprisingly nice to drink young - I opened a few bottles when the EP purchases arrived in Australia and really liked it - and voted for it as WOTY. Similarly, I drank a few in London in 2000 with a few old Aussie friends and it was excellent - it had a cool minerality and good dark fruit.

I did not buy it between 2000 and 2010 (except a few 03's that went to auction when I left Australia) though I now have cases of 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2019. So I'm hoping that we both age well.....

cheers
Mark

[DavidG]

Friends opened a bottle of 2000 SM last night. Promising on the nose but tired on the palate. The green streak was there but at just the right level to add interest and complexity. But the fruit had faded. Just one bottle and at 24 years not necessarily representative (though well stored) of the entire production.

[RPCV]

There seems to be quite a lot of variation in this vintage and the range is very wide. I wonder if there were some bottling issues, different lots etc. I guess I got lucky as all of mine have been very good to excellent.