Château Sociando-Mallet
Château Sociando-Mallet is one of those properties which makes a mockery of the 1855 classification of the Médoc. Never entered into the classification of cru classé châteaux, and subsequently classified as a cru bourgeois in 1932, this estate consistently turns out wines which outshine those produced by many of its more illustrious neighbours. This apparent error was further highlighted in 2003 when a revised Cru Bourgeois classification was drawn up, led by nine Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel properties. Château Sociando-Mallet was nowhere to be seen – the confident proprietor Jean Gautreau (1927 – 2019) opting instead to remain outside of the system, perhaps feeling that participation would actually lower the standing of his château, but perhaps also discouraged by some of the petty politics that seemed to surround the process.
Jean Gautreau (pictured below, during the 2012 harvest) continued to fly solo, neither cru bourgeois nor cru classé. During his golden years Jean remained actively interested and involved, but the responsibility for the running of the estate increasingly fell to Vincent Faure, who fulfilled the role not only of technical director, but also of son-in-law. Sadly Vincent left for pastures new in 2015. Jean’s daughter Sylvie Gautreau took on the running of the property in 2017, and she hired a new technical director, François Hugueniot, in 2018. With Jean’s passing in 2019 it is today Sylvie and François who run the domaine, and there is no sign that they might be slowing down; with continued investment in both cellars and vineyard, Château Sociando-Mallet remains one of the must-visit estates in Bordeaux, producing one of its most reliable wines.
