Château Sociando Mallet

The Producer

Located in the commune of Saint-Seurin de Cadourne and offering a magnificent panorama of the Gironde estuary, the castle appeared in the 17th century. Its name comes from its owner, an aristocrat of Basque origin named Sociando. It is in 1831 that the domain takes the name of Sociando-Mallet, during a change of owner.

The great wine history of the château began in 1969, when Jean Gautreau, a tennis player and broker by training, fell under the spell of the estate despite its pitiful state and bought it instead of selling it to one of his clients. When he bought it, the estate covered only 5 hectares of vines; today it covers more than 83 hectares and produces 450,000 bottles of Château Sociando-Mallet and its little sister, Demoiselle de Sociando-Mallet, each year.

Chateau Sociando-Mallet is in line with the wines of the Haut-Medoc and signs full-bodied wines, with a beautiful dark and deep color. Composed of 60% Merlot since the uprooting of some Cabernet Franc vines in 2015, the wines of the domain typical of high quality wines are neither in the classification of the great growths of 1855, nor in that of the crus bourgeois.

The commitments

Chateau Sociando-Mallet is committed to respecting nature as much as possible so that the wines express their aromas to the fullest. Soil maintenance is therefore done in the traditional way, with two operations of shodding and de-shodding the vines in order to aerate the soil. In spring, the pruning, which consists in removing the undesirable branches which grow on the old wood of the trunks and arms of the vines, is done by hand. The raising of the vines and the harvesting are also done by hand.

The terroir

Occupying the butte de Baleyron, one of the most beautiful gravelly terroirs of the Médoc, north of Pauillac, the vineyard overlooks the Gironde estuary. The estate has a territory made up of gravel from the Guntzian period, on a deep clay-limestone subsoil, which allows the Cabernet Sauvignon to ripen in excellent conditions and gives the Merlot a depth and complexity of great quality. The location of the estate also allows for a good water supply to the vines, which guarantees the freshness, complexity and elegance of the Sociando wines, of which this terroir is the soul.

Covering 120 hectares, 83 of which are vineyards, the property occupies the Baleyron croup, which gives it an optimal exposure for the sunshine of the vines, while maintaining regular ventilation due to its proximity to the estuary.

The vineyard is made up of 54% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Cabernet Franc. The average age of the vines is 35 years.

The wines

Chateau Sociando-Mallet is an unclassified cru of the Haut Médoc but has demonstrated its high quality in international competitions (1982, 1996 and 2010 in particular). It is full-bodied, with a dark color and a nose of black fruits and wood and its aromas are enhanced by a little minerality. A wine that has a great potential for aging (up to 30 years for great vintages), going from "virile" in its youth to harmonious in its maturity.

La Demoiselle de Sociando-Mallet is produced from the youngest vines on the estate, with 50% Merlot. The juice that comes out is light and elegant, like the dragonfly that adorns the bottle label. Fresh and pleasant to drink, it will perfectly accompany grilled meats or shellfish specialties.