Winemaker Notes
The richness of these 2019 wines was already impressive. The Cabernets were showing silky tannins and the Merlots were generously aromatic and well-balanced whilst maintaining this remarkable richness. All the ingredients were indeed there to produce a vintage worthy of an 18/19 tandem!
Blend: 55% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc
The Barrel Sample for this wine is above 14% ABV.
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
The last vintage under Jean Gautreau, and it's a great one to remember him by. Serious, with shoulders and muscles, reflecting the excellent gravel and clay soils at this spot of the Médoc in St Seurin de Cadoune. This is a long-term wine with blackcurrant and blackberry and well-formed tannins.
Barrel Sample: 94 -
James Suckling
A juicy, flavorful red with blackberry and blueberry character. Some dark chocolate and walnuts, too. It’s full-bodied and layered with hazelnut and spice undertones. Velvety and poised.
Barrel Sample: 93-94 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Notes of minty cassis, cigar wrapper and loamy soil, deftly framed by toasty new oak, introduce the 2019 Sociando-Mallet, a medium to full-bodied, rich and concentrated wine that’s incipiently complex and elegantly muscular in profile. The style of the vintage has lent this more youthful polish than is sometimes the case, and it will offer a broad drinking window. Best after 2026.
-
Wine Spectator
Fresh and focused, showing red currant and damson plum, with a chalky spine and savory and tobacco flecks on the finish. Textbook. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Drink now.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
While it claims the same basic landscape as the Medoc—only every so slightly elevated above river level—the Haut Medoc is home to all of the magnificent chateaux of the Left Bank of Bordeaux, creating no lack of beautiful sites to see.
These chateaux, residing over the classed-growth cru in the villages of Margaux, Moulis, Listrac, St-Julien, Pauillac and St. Estephe are within the Haut Medoc appellation. Though within the confines of these villages, any classed-growth chateaux will most certainly claim village or cru status on their wine labels.
Interestingly, some classed-growth cru of the Haut Medoc fall outside of these more famous villages and can certainly be a source of some of the best values in Bordeaux. Deep in color, and concentrated in ripe fruit and tannins, these wines (typically Cabernet Sauvignon-based) often prove the same aging potential of the village classed-growths. Among these, the highest ranked chateaux are Chateau La Lagune and Chateau Cantemerle.