Château Sociando-Mallet

Château Sociando - Mallet is a Domaine located on the banks of the Garonne, in the municipal area of Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne, about ten kilometers north of Pauillac, in the heart of the Haut-Médoc. The origins of the Domaine date back to 1633, a document certifies the belonging of the lands to an aristocrat of Basque origin named Sociondo, who in the course of subsequent transcriptions became Sociando due to a spelling error. In 1793 the estate was seized, sold as a National Property and purchased by Jean Lamothe. In the following decades, the Domaine passes into different hands until the moment when it meets the fate of Jean Gautreau, the son of an insurer, who at the age of 18 reached the junior semifinal of the Roland Garros tennis tournament. After his military service in Morocco, Jean began working in the wine trade sector and then opened his own company, which began and exported Bordeaux wines to Belgium and Holland. In 1969, while looking for a Domaine for sale for his northern European clients, he discovered the Sociando-Mallet estate. It is a real love at first sight. He immediately fell in love with the magnificent vineyards overlooking the Gironde estuary and immediately bought the property. It is a small Domaine of only 5 hectares with an old building in a bad state, but Jean, as a connoisseur of the territory, immediately senses its potential. The first vintages are very encouraging and Gautreau begins to progressively enlarge the estate by buying the plots from his neighbors. Today Château Sociando - Mallet extends over a total area of 120 hectares of which 83 are vineyards and produces around 450,000 bottles per year. Jean Gautreau, at the dawn of his 90s, left the helm of the Domaine in the hands of his daughter Sylvie. The Domaine is located in one of the most beautiful areas of Haut Médoc. The soils consist of graves with a deep clay-limestone layer below. They are poor and very draining soils, perfect for the red berried grapes typical of the area. The beautiful sunny, breezy aspects and the mild climate, mitigated by the presence of the Gironde estuary, allow the grapes to ripen perfectly with rich and intense aromas. The vines are grown for 42% with Cabernet Sauvignon, 54% with Merlot and 4% with Cabernet Franc. The average age of the vines is about 35 years and they have been planted with a very high density per hectare, above 8,000 vines, so that the plants naturally produce few clusters with a great aromatic concentration. The wines of Château Sociando - Mallet are elegant, rich, deep and very long-lived, perfect ambassadors of a great terroir.