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2020 Château Sociando-Mallet

Removed from a professional wine storage facility; Purchased upon release; Consignor is original owner

3 days LEFT
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Ends Sunday, 7pm Pacific

RATINGS

94James Suckling

...pretty nose with dark spices, nut shell and cedar notes with a dark fruit backbone, following through to a medium body with firm and finely polished tannins that go on and on. Refined and nicely balanced with velvety texture. Lingering and chalky finish.

94Jeb Dunnuck

...lots of ripeness and richness, with darker currants, plums, leafy tobacco, chocolate, and graphite-like aromatics that build nicely with time in the glass. These all carry to a medium to full-bodied Haut-Médoc revealing a deep, layered mid-palate, ripe, sweet tannins, plenty of concentration, and a great finish.

93Vinous / IWC

...beautifully defined blackberry and raspberry fruit, pressed violet and light cedar aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with firm backbone, a little powdery in texture, fine backbone with ample freshness and tension towards its graphite-infused finish. Bravo!

92+ The Wine Advocate

...very attractive, exhibiting aromas of cassis and plums mingled with notions of pencil shavings, loamy soil, tobacco leaf and licorice. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with lively acids and powdery tannins...

92Decanter Magazine (points)

Wonderfully fragrant on the nose, just stopping short of being potent. Glorious perfumed scents and rich, ripe black fruits. Clean and clear...lively energy...little bit of liquorice which gives a savoury, dark and sticky edge to the fruit. Clarity, classicism and precision on show. Sculpted, muscular, grippy and chewy...slate and coffee-toned finish.

16+ Jancis Robinson

Smoky, spicy black fruit with a touch of cedar. Juicy, fine-grained tannins, lots of freshness... Mouth-watering finish.

PRODUCER

Château Sociando-Mallet

Château Sociando-Mallet is a 225-acre estate in St.-Seurin-de-Cadourne, which is part of the Haut-Medoc appellation just north of the city of Bordeaux. It has been owned since 1969 by Jean Gautreau, who was a negociant and exporter until buying the château, which was dilapidated. After many improvements and much updating, the estate is today considered by some reviewers, including Robert M. Parker Jr., to be the jewel of the Haut-Medoc. The vineyards are planted to 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Franc. Though the estate is unclassified, Parker says the château makes “uncompromising wines of extremely high quality….Sociando-Mallet is easily the equal of many of the classified growths….”

REGION

France, Bordeaux, Haut-Médoc, St. Seurin-de-Caudourne

Bordeaux is the world’s most famous fine-wine producing region. Even non-wine drinkers recognize the names of Bordeaux’s celebrated wines, such as Margaux and Lafite-Rothschild. Located near the Atlantic coast in southwest France, the region takes its name from the seaport city of Bordeaux, a wine trading center with an outstanding site on the Garonne River and easy access to the Atlantic. Like most French wine regions, Bordeaux’s first vineyards were planted by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago, then tended by medieval monks. Aristocrats and nobility later owned the region’s best estates and today estates are owned by everyone from non-French business conglomerates to families who have been proprietors for generations. Bordeaux has nearly 280,000 acres of vineyards, 57 appellations and 10,000 wine-producing châteaux. Bordeaux is bifurcated by the Gironde Estuary into so-called “right bank” and “left bank” appellations. Bordeaux’s red wines are blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec. It also makes white wines of Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle. There are several classification systems in Bordeaux. All are attempts to rank the estates based on the historic quality of the wines.

VINTAGE

2020 Château Sociando-Mallet