Château Sociando-Mallet is located 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. Another document, from 1750 mentions vines belonging to Demoiselle Anne de Sossiondo. Due to various misspellings over the years, "Sossiondo" became "Sociando".
Jean Gautreau discovered Sociando-Mallet 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. There were only 5 hectares of vines at the time. The buildings were in bad shape and there was no barrel cellar – just a small vat room and garage. With help and advice from Gérard Cler, a previous employee at the château, Jean Gautreau made an acceptable first vintage and a superb second one. He was helped by the fact that 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 neighbors. Seeking the best possible quality, he also renovated the estate’s buildings, built a barrel cellar, and gradually improved the choice of grape varieties, matching the appropriate ones to each vineyard plot.
Today, the property stretches over a total of 120 hectares, of which 83 are under vine. Jean Gautreau sold his négociant business in 2000 to focus on managing his wine estate. He passed away in October 2019, leaving his daugther and only child Sylvie the property she had been managing since 2015. She favours viticultural methods close to nature, following in her father’s footsteps, with the same love and respect of the land. She can be found participating in the various technical tastings and choosing the blend with her team.
Sociando Mallet Haut-Medoc is made from 53% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc.
Château Sociando-Mallet produces full-bodied wines with a deep, dark color. The complex bouquet is dominated by red and black fruit aromas with a touch of minerality, floral and spicy notes. Fresh, harmonious and nicely balanced in the mouth with a solid tannic structure and good acidity that promises a long aging potential. The mid-palate is pleasant with a nice density of fruit. A silky and fruity finish.
Red meat, dishes in sauce, poultry, strong goat or cow cheeses.
Pernot Belicard Batard Montrachet Grand Cru is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
Aromas of white peach, white apple, with a beautiful minerality. Also lighty salty, chalky aromas and some bread and brioche flavors and a hint of vanilla.
Poultry with cream based sauces, French cheese, like camembert, but not too strong, also seafood and fish.
The 2021 Shafer Hillside Select is crafted exclusively from grapes grown on Shafer's rugged hillside vineyards, where steep, rocky soils push the vines to produce low yields of intensely concentrated fruit. The unique terroir, combined with Napa Valley's hallmark climate of warm, sunny days and cool nights, contributed to a vintage with exceptional structure, lush tannins, and deep, vibrant color. The 2021 growing season exemplified these conditions, allowing the grapes to mature beautifully by early September, resulting in a wine with refined, pure aromas and flavors that reflect the richness and elegance of the vineyard.
“Such a beautifully balanced wine with tremendous staying power and expressive Stags Leap ironstone minerality with heady sagebrush and conifer notes with white pepper and walnut husk. The wine has an impressive depth of red-toned fruit on the mid-palate framed by tannins that practically dance across the palate, exuding length, tension, and power. Huckleberry and black cherry fruits, black truffle, dried violets, graphite, and salted dark chocolate are all framed by racy acidity, which keeps everything fresh and lifted. The 2021 releases mark Elias Fernandez's 38th vintage as Shafer's winemaker. He was hired by John Shafer in 1984, two weeks out of UC Davis.”
-Decanter, 99 Points
“The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select was tasted as a barrel sample. Deep garnet-purple in color, it charges out with powerful notes of creme de cassis, plum preserves, and juicy blueberries giving way to an undercurrent of tar, candied violets, and star anise. The full-bodied palate is concentrated and impactful, delivering a firm, grainy texture and well-knit freshness to support the generous black and blue fruits, finishing long with loads of mineral and exotic spices sparks. This is impressive!”
-The Wine Independent, 98-100 Points
“As always, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon that will spend 28 months in new barrels. Its deep purple hue gives way to a behemoth of a wine that has incredible cassis, black raspberry, and even blue fruits to go with loads of camphor, minty herbs, graphite, and darker chocolate. It's full-bodied, concentrated, yet pure, flawlessly balanced, and has a great finish.”
-Jeb Dunnuck, 97-99 Points