Alcohol: 13.5 %
Grape(s): Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot
Location: Haut-Médoc AOC, Bordeaux, France
Tasting Notes: Deep, dark ruby. A complex bouquet of blackcurrant and blackberry, threaded with sweet spice, a touch of peppermint, graphite and licorice. Medium-to-full bodied on the palate with dense, saturated tannins — saturated but ripe — wrapping blackcurrant and raspberry fruit laced with cedar and black pepper. Long, stony and serious on the finish, unmistakably Sociando. Built to age: decant 60 minutes now, or cellar 5-10 years and drink well into the 2030s.
Notes: The 2019 blends roughly half Cabernet Sauvignon with 40% Merlot and small portions of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, from the estate’s gravel and clay-limestone parcels in the far north of the Médoc at Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne. Hand-harvested and long-macerated, with 12+ months in French oak — the house’s signature is extraction and terroir over polish.
Food Pairing: Excellent with rib of beef, roast leg of lamb, duck confit, game, and aged Comté or Bleu.
Winery Story: Château Sociando-Mallet is the Médoc’s proudest outsider — never part of the 1855 classification, and unbothered. Since 1969 the Gautrau family has built one of Bordeaux’s most loyal followings on densely structured, ageworthy reds that consistently out-perform their cru classé neighbors’ price tags; it reaches the US through importer Monsieur Touton.
