December 22, 2023 - French but no Burgundy/Bordeaux theme: Guessed early '90s left-bank like Gruaud Larose. Old-school claret with good ripeness of fruit despite a little pyrazine on the nose. Feels like it's at its plateau now.
November 25, 2023 - 12.5% alcohol. Medium garnet center with some orange bricking at the rim. This has a stunningly complex “old school” nose of green tobacco, mint, barnyard, earth, and red fruits such as cherry and raspberry. The palate is equally complex with tart cranberry, tobacco, mint, cedar, and rosemary throughout the long finish. Unsurprisingly, medium-bodied on the palate with supportive acidity and fully integrated tannins that provide a rounded mouthfeel to this perfectly aged wine. Consumed with medium rare steak, asparagus, mashed potatoes, and dinner rolls for Thanksgiving. It paired well with everything, including the asparagus, because the herbal backbone matched the rosemary in the steak as well as the greenness of the asparagus. Overall, this is why I age Bordeaux. It was great with food and on its own, and while I do not love underripe wines, I can appreciate a touch of green for complexity. My son said it was one of the best wines I have opened for him, and it was unanimously preferred over the 2008 Bevan Cellars David’s Cuvée Showket Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, not an easy feat.
November 23, 2023 - Part of a 2020-1995 Verticale. Difficult to get this vintage wrong, considering the perfect Cabernet S. growing conditions on the left bank in 1996. Yet I already had better 1996s and had expected more umpf. Flattering maturity in the nose, lush ripe cassis, cocoa, plum, tobacco, roast aromas, with some herbal and earthy tones in a the finish. Possibly my palate getting tired towards the end of the verticale, but also some bottle variation over the years.
August 24, 2023 - I understand this wine has received some plaudits on the BWE forum, so I was eager to try a bottle this evening (a sultry night in Denver, a new-normal, fossil-fuels-induced, GOP-enabled hellscape that feels like the bayou in July). I don't know precisely what false-starts and mis-turns this wine may have taken along the way, but as of the summer of 2023, I can declare without equivocation, this is a beauty. Showing at peak maturity for my palate, there are tertiary facets galore in the serious, complex bouquet -- worn leather, leafy cabernet scents, hatch chilies, smoked poblanos, dried currants, freshly-turned soil, and some sweet spicy notes (cinnamon?) only mature Bordeaux seems to get -- combined with the vigor, grip, dry extract, and length on the body of a wine in its prime. Definitely on the drier end of the spectrum on the finish, where it still displays some rustic hardiness, but with hearty food these "agricultural" flashes are a feature, not a bug.
I am really digging this and I imagine it would thrill equally lovers of traditional claret and cab franc grown in the Loire. Bravo. 93 pts.
July 28, 2023 - Cloudy crimson color. Light raspberries and cream on the nose. Crisp raspberries dominate with cranberries underneath. Crisp and pleasant.
July 22, 2023 - Mostly tertiary notes now, wet leaves, earth and tobacco. touch of fruit left. Tea notes and tannins after about 20 mins from the first pour.
Grassl Bordeaux glass.
On the nose, mostly wet leaves, tobacco, and some balsamic. Tannins are nice and soft, with a touch of bite left.
Some sweetness permeates through. Multiple layers of flavours, but the integration is not seamless.
Medium plus finish, mostly dried fruit.
July 15, 2023 - From a magnum, decanted 1 hr, silky smooth, complex notes of barn yard, leather, tobacco, cherries ending on a lengthy finish. Recommend drinking over the following 5-10 years.
July 13, 2023 - Vêtu d'une robe dense et profonde sombre, Son nez est riche et gourmand avec beaucoup de fruits rouges et noirs comme le cassis, puissants arômes de framboise, cerise, et de pain grillé. Concentré et corsé magnifique de richesse et de souplesse Sa bouche est charnue, puissante et bien structurée. Boisee. Epices. Tres bonne longueur.
January 23, 2023 - No real change in characteristics from a year ago.
Another 2-3 years of drinking.
January 14, 2023 - A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (53%), Merlot (42%) and Cabernet Franc + Petit Verdot (5%), harvested between September 23 and October 8. Aged for 12 months 100% in new oak barriques, then blended together and aged for another six months in tanks. 12,5% alcohol. Tasted blind in a 1996-themed tasting.
Deep, somewhat evolved and quite opaque blackish-red color with a developed plummy-maroon hue. The nose feels instantly recognizable for a Bordeaux with attractive, classically styled aromas of wizened blackcurrants and woody notes of pencil shavings, some leathery tones, a little bit of forest floor, light autumnal nuances of damp leaves, a herbaceous hint of cooked bell pepper and a touch of pipe tobacco. The wine feels dry, silky and resolved yet moderately dense on the palate with a medium-to-moderately full body and vibrant flavors of ripe blackcurrants and pipe tobacco, some forest floor, light crunchy notes of crowberries, a little bit of herbaceous leafy character and roasted bell pepper, woody hints of pencil shavings and savory oak spice and a sweet touch of slightly wizened black cherry. The wine feels very balanced and quite structured with its high acidity and ample yet moderately resolved tannins that slowly pile up on the gums. The finish is long, harmonious and gently grippy with a quite complex aftertaste of ripe blackcurrants, some leathery tones, a little bit of herbaceous leafy character, light oaky notes of cedary wood spice and pencil shavings, a meaty hint of savory umami and a sweeter touch of wizened dark fruits.
A beautiful, harmonious and eminently delicious Left-Bank Bordeaux. Compared to the 1996 Sociando-Mallet I had two years ago - which was remarkably youthful, almost backward, for its age - this wine felt somewhat more aged, yet still relatively youthful for a wine +25 years old. It's remarkable how the 100% new oak doesn't seem to show in these Sociando-Mallet wines, but instead they come across as wonderfully savory, firm and pretty old-school in style. I'd say this bottle was a bit more evolved and thus slightly more resolved and accessible compared to the one we had in 2021, but even then I'd say it was still on its way up and would've had years more left before reaching its apogee. In a nutshell: Sociando-Mallet is drinking wonderfully right now, but there is still room for further improvement, so there's definitely no hurry whatsoever with this wine. Drink or keep.