Château Sociando – Mallet

Oct 8, 2018 | Uncategorized

The current owner of Château Sociando-Mallet, Jean Gautreau, comes from a completely different background than the wine industry. But when he realized that there were a lot of potentialities and opportunities, he became an independent wine broker in 1950. Seeing that the price of Bordeaux wine was heading inexorably upward, Jean Gautreau created his own négociant firm on 1st January 1957. He soon found customers in Belgium and the Netherlands and developed a flourishing trade in quality Bordeaux wines.  Jean Gautreau acquires the estate in 1969 and with only 5 hectares, he made an acceptable first vintage and a superb second one.

Today, the property is comprised of 83 hectares producing nearly 450,000 bottles a year of Château Sociando-Mallet and the second wine, Demoiselle de Sociando-Mallet. Jean Gautreau sold his négociant business in 2000 and now focuses entirely on managing his wine estate.

Did you know?…

  • A document dating from March 1633 refers to land here belonging to an aristocrat of Basque origin named Sociondo. Another document, from 1750 mentions vines belonging to Demoiselle Anne de Sossiondo. Due to various misspellings over the years, “Sossiondo” became “Sociando”.
  • When Jean Gautreau came across Château Sociando-Mallet, he was actually looking for a wine estate to buy on behalf of a Belgian client. He fell in love with the estate and he purchased it for himself.
  • In 1996, Sociando-Mallet hits the headlines when the European Grand Jury (GJE) ranked his 1990 vintage on top of the first crus. In Las Vegas in 2001, during a wine tasting representing around a hundred of Bordeaux 1982 vintage, Sociando-Mallet was ranked second by the European jury after Château Pichon-Lalande and third by the American jury after Château Figeac and Château Lynch-Bages. On the occasion of the blind tasting organized in 1999 in Merano, the GJE places the 1996 Sociando-Mallet at the top of a list of 132 Bordeaux wines of the same vintage.

Eleanor Market Report

A price report based on our data shows that from the release price, all the vintages have increased of at least 35%, with top performer 2000 vintage with its 90% ascent.

2010, 2011 and 2016 vintages have received 94 Parker score but Sociando-Mallet 2011 is currently traded at lowest price, -19% compared to the 2016 Vintage.

Sociando Mallet 2016 has come out at 18.9% higher than the release price of the 2015.

The 2017 vintage has been released at a decrease of 18.2% on 2016.

For buyers looking for value, the 2014 might look attractive. The wine has a score of 92, additional years in bottle and is available at a 42.9% discount compared to the 2016 release.

Perhaps, we can consider it as the standout in terms of value is still the 2014, which is available in the market at a 24% discount also compared to 2017 release.