TN: 1996 Château Sociando-Mallet (France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc)

[JimHow]

• 1996 Château Sociando-Mallet - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc (11/11/2010)
  Delicious. Also, an interesting wine. When we started bordeauxwineenthusiasts.com over ten years ago, the young 1996 Sociando-Mallet was our first "Wine of the Year," a tradition we have continued each year over the past decade. We were right. This is an exceptional wine. There is a lot going on here. It has that unmistakeable green, stemmy character that, rather than being any sort of liability, provides a charming uniqueness to the wine. Make no mistake about it: 1996 is the greatest vintage ever for Sociando-Mallet. And that estate has made some very nice wines over the past thirty years. This is a man's man of a wine. "Rustic." Deep Lafite/Lafon-like ruby color, black raspberries, it all came together spectacularly that year for both the cabernet and what merlot there is on the left bank. Like Lafon Rochet, this estate was in the right place at the right time in 1996. A brilliant effort. (94 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

[alchemeus]

Well, I have no Sociando-Mallet but i do (did?) have some others. All were delicious wines some 14 years later. Got to love that Bourdeaux mentality.

And my 'cellar' isn't even close to the 55 degree some Scottish castle kept as. The power of advertising.

[JimHow]

Same here, I just have a passive cellar, but it stays cool pretty much year round.
I have cases of 2000, 2002, and 2003 Sociando.
I've had numerous vintages of Sociando. The '82, '86, '90, and '03 were great, but '96 is my favorite.

[alchemeus]

Same here, I just have a passive cellar, but it stays cool pretty much year round.
I have cases of 2000, 2002, and 2003 Sociando.
I've had numerous vintages of Sociando. The '82, '86, '90, and '03 were great, but '96 is my favorite.

Well you are in Maine for Thor's sake. How much colder can you get, Canada?

Even here, in Maryland, those 1996's were great. I mean GREAT!! Too bad I can no longer afford them. Damn.

[Comte Flaneur]

I bought three cases of this for 160 sterling ecah because some French wine critic - Bettane? - rated it as one of the top three wines of the vintage - can't remember the others but I think they were FGs.

I am half way through case one. My main criticism of this estate is its bottle variability. In September 2006 - I think - we did a - mainly BWE - S-M vertical, and the 1996 was so off the pace it was hardly true. it wwasn't really corked, just a poor bottle. Most 1996s I have tried have been (a) very good and (b) still v young in the sense that it still has several years on the upslope, while still nice now. My guess is that it will hit is plateau somewhere around 2015.

[DavidG]

A lot of people find the green notes in SM a turn-off. I think it adds a nice complexity. Haven't had enough of them to have an opinion on whether the '96 is best ever, but I wouldn't argue the point. It's a really nice bottle. Unfortunately, no more in my cellar - I didn't give it enough credit for ageability.

[JimHow]

I have two more bottles in my cellar David and that's it, indeed, this is a wine that is deceptively ageworthy....

[William P]

Sorry Jim, 1982 is the greatest SM but 1996 is very good.

[JimHow]

I like the 1986.

Sociando has a higher content of merlot than most left bankers, no?

[alchemeus]

Heck, my opinion is drink your 2000's before your 1996's.

Just me of course.

[JimHow]

I wouldn't necessarily dispute that, in general.

[alchemeus]

I wouldn't necessarily dispute that, in general.

Got to go Jim, see you soon.

[JimHow]

ok alch, good to see you again.

[marcs]

Has the green pepper, but the 96 also has a nice deep chunky / meaty quality that comes from rich fruit. That's what in my experience is hard to find in other years of S-M and puts this one over the top.

Have a few bottles of the 2000 and 2003 aging away, not in a Scottish castle unfortunately but in an expensive corporate wine storage facility.

[JimHow]

Indeed, that meaty character is very distinctive about this wine.
I've drunk a lot of bottles of this wine over the past decade, it has rarely disappointed, even when it was very young.
I'll hold my two remaining bottles for at least another five to ten years.

[Comte Flaneur]

My favourite wine at that S&M vertical tasting was the 1989, followed by the 1986 - the 82, 90 and 00 were the crowd pleasers with the 03 right up there. I bought a case of the 1986 and three out of four were flawed. nnnggghhh. The 95 and 98 got lost but are very good. I wouldn't be surprised if the 96 turns out to be the greatest S&M experience...but there is plenty of competition. My fantasy is to own pristine ex-Chateau bottles of the 70 and 75...probably the best QPR today is the 04 as Richard has been suggesting. At Franks I got a bottle of the 2002 for $28.99 (sorry Jim it was the last one).

[JimHow]

There's a note on cellartracker, Ian, from a person named Meerlust, I think he describes the evolution of the '96 SM fairly well:

Tasted by Meerlust on 11/6/2010 & rated 90 points: Drunk over a couple of hours. Brick red color with a garnet center. Initially, this wine was fully of cherries and leafy tobacco. After 30 minutes, the palate displayed tart cherries and herbs, not in an underripe way, but it seemed thin on the palate and displayed drying tannins. After an hour, the nose changed to cherries, herbs, and grilled meat. The palate seemed to deepen with cassis, herbs, and earth. The tannins were still evident and the finish had lengthened. Two hours later, the wine opened up with more fruit and an engaging mineral streak. Overall, this seemed quite young and tannic, and it is just beginning to show some complexity. It certainly needs more time.

[Blanquito]

This is a great wine, and of course, it was one of my first BWE inspired purchases (along with the 1996 Lafon Rochet)...

Interesting to see all the buzz about 1996 vs 2000-- I am beginning to suspect (but the jury has a long way to deliberate) that 1996 might be the best Bordeaux vintage post 1989/1990 (for the northern Medoc at least, where I do most of my hunting).

Does the green pepper element morph into something else with enough age?

[JCNorthway]

I have really enjoyed the few 96 SM's that I've drunk. I think I posted on the most recent one several months back. I think I still have 2-3 bottles left that I hope to enjoy even more in the coming years. This truly was a great BWE discovery - at least for me.

Jon

[JimHow]

I do indeed recall your note Jon, it was one of the reasons I decided to give this a try.

This is another cellartracker note that I think describes it better than I ever can:

Tasted by Paul S on 5/23/2009 & rated 93 points: 1996 left-bank Bordeaux tasting with lots more (Richfield, Lam Soon Building, Singapore): Wow - this was absolutely singing, so much so that it outperformed all the bigger guns on show. Lovely left bank nose - tobacco, gigarette ash, green pepper notes, roasted meat and lots of gummy blackcurrant fruit below all that - everything integrated into a warm, plush, enticing bouquet. The structure on the palate had obviously mellowed down from a more excitable youth, but still provided plenty of backbone, with fine, almost powdery tannins and very sprightly, clean acidity running through lots of pure, almost primary, cassis fruit and more of the telltale tobacco notes. Very masculine, with plenty of power, but superbly balanced. Finish was very long, with lots of sappy fruit mixed with tea leaves, more roast meat and slightly coating tannins as the wine evened out at the very end. Again, I got a sense of power here, and lots of persistence. A lovely wine. I should have guessed it was the Sociando from the flavour profile, but the quality was so high that I thought is must have been the Pontet Canet instead. Still going strong when I retasted the remainder at home 6 hours later. (3996 views)

[rjsussex]

I think Soc Mallet in the northenmost part of the Haut Medoc and Cantemerle in the southern-most part have claims to be the best QPRs in Bordeaux at present, the former regularly outperforming leading Pauillacs and the latter regularly outperforming leading Margauxs. And the price differential between them is just right as SM is certainly the classier wine but Cantemerle so usefully ready much sooner.

Just love the (very different) styles of both, and particularly the only style-feature they have in common - that refreshingly traditional green-streak that seems so rare these days.

Best
Richard

[Houndsong]

I don't drink many Chilean cabs but I often get a vegetal green streak in them that's not dissimilar to the SM, only it's usually even more pronounced (as is almost everything with Chilean cabs, not usually for the best). Have to say that streak is not underripeness but something quite different.