2000 Sociando Mallet Cuvee Jean Gautreau

Opened several hours before enjoying it with a ribeye steak last night at Proof DSM, this wine has everything going for it that I love in Sociando…but packing a much bigger punch. The wine showed really quite young at 19. I believe this is 100% cab sauv, aged in 100% new French oak. Bordeaux sophistication meets Cult Napa extraction. This wine was potentially of at least Second, and possibly First Growth quality IMHO, and I would expect it to drink well for several decades. This may be too hedonistic for some who adore Sociando “normale”, but it is nonetheless quite compelling. 95

It’s amazing what you get for the price with these.

Neal Martin just reviewed it…“The 2000 Cuvée Jean Gautreau is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc picked between September 21 and October 7. It has a rather stalky, herbaceous bouquet that pokes through the black fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with dry tannin and very masculine in style, but I discerned more fruit on the 1999 Jean Gautreau. Drink soon. Tasted at the vertical tasting at Sociando-Mallet.88pts”

I really like this special cuvee as well and do not find it too polished or hedonistic, but have not had the 2000 version.

The regular Sociando is mostly all new oak, per Leve:

Chateau Sociando Mallet is aged in a combination of mostly 100% new, French oak barrels and the remainder is aged in tank. On average, 95% of the harvest is aged in mostly new, French oak barrels, while the remaining 5% of the harvest is aged in tank for about 12 months.
Read more at:> Learn about Chateau Sociando Mallet Haut Medoc, Complete Guide

Will seek this out, thanks for the note.

Damn I’m 95 points just reading that!

Kidding aside, the regular 2000 bottling is surprisingly herbaceous for the vintage, even for Sociando. I think it is an excellent wine and have tripled-down on it, but it does not drink like most 2000s.

Agree but this is the single most expensive Gautreau in EU. More costly than 2005
Great wine it is

The “straight” 2000 SM is a very controversial wine.

It has strong bell pepper aromatics.

I have a friend who says he hates it, but I don’t. I have one bottle, and I’m going to wait a while and spring it on him blind.

I’m like that .

Alex R.

The TN on SM-CJG-00 is quite a departure from my experiences with SM-00. While I’m excited to be able to try the CJG for experience sake, it doesn’t seem like the prototypical SM that I would like.

Here’s my SM-00 TN with the usual quibbles on pyrazine, brett and green notes.

Seems like Bordeaux from 2000 are consistently relatively highly priced. I’ve been focused more on 1996 (oddly lower) and 2001 (understandably lower). Some remnant of a good marketing campaign or Millennial fever?

Stalky, herbaceous, bell pepper? That’s your siren song, Robert. You can have mine

Send it my way. Like you did the 2003. I’ll send you more Gruard Larose. If you don’t like 03, you’ll hate 00. The 03 has this interesting thing call ripe fruit.

Thanks for posting, Kelly - sounds good to me. Sadly I’ve yet to see one on offer over here, but my scouts are on the lookout. I enjoyed Neal’s piece, especially since it’s the first time anybody has ever reviewed the JG cuvée, but some of the notes did rather bemuse me, like this one on the 00 JG - “Drink soon” - with a window until 2024.

You’re very welcome, Julian. My scouts here are looking as well – so far to no avail. I think I read just a few hundred cases produced annually?

Had a few other great wines that same night – 2000 Pernot Bienvenues Batard Montrachet; 1996 Jacques Prieur clos vougeot; 1963 Croft VP. Will share notes when I free up.

With due respect, Neal’s review really did not sound much like the wine I drank recently.

Appreciate the note and responses here, as I’ve never tried the Cuvee. Gives a good picture of the differences.

Mike

Ok for $hit$ and giggles, I opened a 2000 Sociando, drinking it side by side with a Baudry. Will the really Chinon please stand up? This Sociando is really damn herbaceous, like seriously. More than the actual Chinon. I think it is delicious, but I would not recommend others grab it unless you are a Loire Cab Franc fan.

Robert: A noble sacrifice in the name of science!

I am in your camp — a fan of Sociando and chinon. What this one (JG) loses in green, it gains in power and sheer hedonism.

I have two bottles of the 2010 from my uncle’s cellar. I guess this means I should save it for you.

When I tasted it blind my thought was a right bank cab franc based (or heavily involved) wine. The green notes led me astray. Great pull, Kelly

Rather than start a new thread, I thought I’d resurrect Kelly’s excellent one and add to it. I did a comparison a few months ago between the Cuvée JG 2001 and the normal 01, which was really interesting, so I thought I’d do the same with the two wines from 2000.

Both wines were decanted at 11.30 am for the evening.

First up was the normal 2000: better than the last bottle, probably because of the long decant. Quite a leafy bouquet, with understated aromas of dark cherry and blackcurrant, plus a touch of cedar. The attack is muted at first, with notes of blackcurrant which never really get going, but with a refreshing acidity mid-palate and some good notes of blackberry and black cherry on the finish, plus some hints of raspberry somewhere in the mix. It did gain in intensity as the evening progressed, providing quite a decent drink but somehow never getting out of second or third gear. Not bad, if this had been another vintage it would have been OK, but it’s a 2000.

Then the Cuvée JG. Similar bouquet if far more intense, far more concentrated - but still leafy, still restrained. The dark cherry dominates, but the nose is still recognisably SM in character. The attack is similar in taste, but much brighter and the real difference comes mid-palate: whereas the normal 00 stalls, this one plunges downwards with deep blackberry flavours, soars skywards with blackcurrant and dark cherry, then embarks on a long, persistent finish. It’s far richer, far deeper, far more satisfying - but I would not say it’s overdone, nor atypical. This is just a very good SM from a ripe vintage. In fact it’s one of the best 00s I’ve tasted. In style, it’s a mixture between Pauillac, Moulis and Margaux - the depth of a Pauillac, the body of a Moulis and the elegance of a Margaux.

Basically, the Cuvée JG tastes like you would expect the 00 to taste - and like it should have tasted. Something clearly went wrong in 2000 - probably picked too early, the 00 tastes unripe, unfinished, which is odd, since I don’t recall that impression when I tasted it from a cask in 2001.

Weirdly enough, I was able to pick up the JG 00 at auction for exactly the same price as the 00, which was a bargain, since the normal price is double that of the SM. As Kelly says, this is at least 2nd growth quality and really, the JG is worth three or four bottles of SM. If you can, sell any remaining 00s and buy some JG instead!

I’m not sure if this is the best JG I’ve had, but it’s certainly up there at the top with the 96 and the 01. Actually - those are the only three I’ve had, so they all must be good! I’m going to have to try a couple together at one point.

Wonderful notes, Julian.

And the market concurs! Prices have doubled here in the States in around the last 1-2 years. I got a nice PM from a fellow Berserker about some 1995s back on the market, and they were 2x what I paid less than 2 years ago.

You are right about the 2000 normale. If this makes any sense, I like it, but Sociando missed the ball on this vintage. They clearly picked too early. Has a ton of green notes in it, some bottles are very good, some are almost showing too much pyrazine for my Chinon palate. I can see where the JG did well here.