Chateau Sociando-Mallet Cuvée Jean Gautreau 2016
HAUT-MEDOC
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Regular price $143.99
Sociando-Mallet Cuvee Jean Gautreau 2016
$143.99 (USA low)
(only 22 b0ttles)
$143.99 (USA low)
(only 22 b0ttles)
This offers an array of ripe and succulent dark berries with some chocolate and wet, black earth. The palate has great density and depth. Really suave, dense, and mouth-filling flavors carry long and even. Excellent quality here. Try from 2023.~95 Points, James Suckling
92-94 Points, Wine Advocate
The 2016 Sociando-Mallet has a refulgent purple/black color. It has a very intense and rich, you might say "ambitious" bouquet with layers of small black cherries, blueberry, and a touch of sloes, less tertiary than previous vintages and certainly more opulent. The palate is medium-bodied with juicy ripe tannin that almost disguises the firm structure underneath. I admire the completeness of this Sociando-Mallet, the neatly embroidered new oak, and the freshness of the finish. The 2015 Sociando-Mallet did not fire on all cylinders last year, but this 2016 is totally convincing. It comes highly recommended as one of the best wines produced at this estate in the northern Médoc. This is an outstanding wine from Mon. Gautreau.
ABOUT THE SOCIANDO-MALLET JEAN GAUTREAU CUVEE
Quite simply one of the best and most respected winemakers in all of Bordeaux, Jean Gautreau has been creating some of the world’s finest wines at Château Sociando-Mallet in Haut-Médoc for nearly a half-century.
In 1995, the cellarmaster of Sociando-Mallet had the idea of selecting fifteen barrels from among sixty to make a blend called “Cuvée Jean Gautreau.” The choice of barrels was made during a blind tasting after one year of aging. The cellarmaster, the oenologist, Sylvie Gautreau, and Jean Gautreau evaluated wine from each barrel. The fifteen highest scoring barrels were blended and put into special bottles labeled as Cuvée Jean Gautreau. The eponymous wine has a higher proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon than Sociando-Mallet. While somewhat austere in its youth, it reaches its full potential with extended aging in the bottle.
Jean Gautreau is simply another version, indeed another vision, of the Sociando-Mallet spirit, offering a different blend from the estate’s leading wine, the taste of a captured moment. It is neither more concentrated, or better, or a luxury product, or a marketing gimmick. It is just another way of approaching the exceptional gravelly terroir and extra-low yields from the same vineyards which produce Sociando-Mallet.
Jean never intended to make his namesake wine available to the public during his lifetime. Instead, he planned it as a legacy for Sylvie, so he produced the wine every year since 1995, bottled them, and kept them at the back of the cellar to age gracefully to be eventually released after his passing. Finally, in 2013, Jean changed his mind and decided to release 12 vintages, 1995 thru 2006, all at once. Jean Gautreau passed away in 2019 at the age of 92. His legacy lives on and drinking fantastic bottles of Sociando-Mallet and Jean Gautreau will be a constant reminder of his role as a pioneer in the world of wine.
In 1995, the cellarmaster of Sociando-Mallet had the idea of selecting fifteen barrels from among sixty to make a blend called “Cuvée Jean Gautreau.” The choice of barrels was made during a blind tasting after one year of aging. The cellarmaster, the oenologist, Sylvie Gautreau, and Jean Gautreau evaluated wine from each barrel. The fifteen highest scoring barrels were blended and put into special bottles labeled as Cuvée Jean Gautreau. The eponymous wine has a higher proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon than Sociando-Mallet. While somewhat austere in its youth, it reaches its full potential with extended aging in the bottle.
Jean Gautreau is simply another version, indeed another vision, of the Sociando-Mallet spirit, offering a different blend from the estate’s leading wine, the taste of a captured moment. It is neither more concentrated, or better, or a luxury product, or a marketing gimmick. It is just another way of approaching the exceptional gravelly terroir and extra-low yields from the same vineyards which produce Sociando-Mallet.
Jean never intended to make his namesake wine available to the public during his lifetime. Instead, he planned it as a legacy for Sylvie, so he produced the wine every year since 1995, bottled them, and kept them at the back of the cellar to age gracefully to be eventually released after his passing. Finally, in 2013, Jean changed his mind and decided to release 12 vintages, 1995 thru 2006, all at once. Jean Gautreau passed away in 2019 at the age of 92. His legacy lives on and drinking fantastic bottles of Sociando-Mallet and Jean Gautreau will be a constant reminder of his role as a pioneer in the world of wine.