Château Sociando-Mallet is in the commune of Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne, ten kilometres north of Pauillac, in the Haut-Médoc appellation.
A document dating from March 1633 refers to land here belonging to an aristocrat of Basque origin named Sociondo. A member of his family was Bishop of Bayonne.
Jean Gautreau, born in April 1927 in Lesparre to a family outside the wine industry, was an accomplished athlete who excelled in football and tennis, reaching the Roland Garros Juniors semi-finals at 18.
After serving in the military in Morocco, he returned to Lesparre and began working for the brokerage firm Miailhe in 1948 during a tough period for Bordeaux's wine trade.
Recognizing significant sales potential, particularly in Africa, he became an independent broker in 1950.
By January 1, 1957, he established his own négociant firm, capitalizing on rising Bordeaux prices and successfully selling quality wines to clients in Belgium and the Netherlands while introducing mobile bottling units for château-bottled wines.
Jean Gautreau discovered Sociando-Mallet in the village of Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne in 1969 when looking for a wine estate to buy on behalf of a Belgian client.
It was love at first sight, despite the fact that the property was in a sorry state.
However, the terroir was excellent and the domain afforded a magnificent view overlooking the Gironde Estuary.
Jean Gautreau immediately decided to acquire it for himself for 250,000 French francs.
There were only 5 hectares of vines at the time.
Sociando-Mallet's extraordinary terroir, consisting of Günz gravel with clay subsoil, is propitious to growing excellent Cabernet Sauvignon and producing wines with wonderful freshness.
Jean Gautreau expanded the vineyard year after year by buying vines from his neighbours.
Today, the property is comprised of 83 hectares producing nearly 450,000 bottles a year of Château Sociando-Mallet and the second wine, Demoiselle de Sociando-Mallet.
The Demoiselle de Sociando-Mallet is produced from the younger vines of the property and the plots whose soil is more favourable to the production of very good Merlot.
This grape variety represents half of the final blend of this wine.
The vines for our Demoiselle cover around twenty hectares and receive the same care and are tended in the same way as the rest of the vineyard throughout the year.
The "demoiselle" is a sort of dragonfly found in the Médoc. Like the dragonfly, this wine of the same name is light and elegant.
The ageing of our Demoiselle de Sociando-Mallet is carried out mainly in vats, to preserve the freshness and fruitiness of the Merlot.
The 2016 vintage taste like a perfume, slightly powdery, greedy, the palate of this blend dominated by Merlot (65%) completed with Cabernet Sauvignon (30%) and Cabernet Franc is ample but elegant.
Ruby red, plenty of dark, toasty oak spices and meaty barrel-ferment characters. The palate has a slightly greenish thread with flavors of wild raspberries and mulberries.
"Tight and linear with berry and citrus character, a medium body and a clean finish.
Pretty second wine from Sociando."
90-91/100 James Suckling
