1982 Sociando Mallet
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
Tobacco, cigar leaf, earth, ruby in colour, softening to tawny around the edges. On the palate the tannins are melted into the structure, with tiny pulses of spiced rosemary and black pepper that draw out the flavours. It's an 1982 that doesn't knock your socks off as some can still do at this point, but it is still very much in the game, and is a beautiful example of the power of this vintage. Unfiltered, unfined. 28ha of vineyards at the time, and a big vintage in terms of production, around 71hl/h yield. 12 months in barrel and then a further 6 months in vats, so 18 months in total. Opened just before tasting and kept improving in the glass, so there is clearly still time ahead - suggest maybe 30 minutes in a carafe before drinking. Native yeasts, malolactic fermentation in vats, no added baceria. Harvest Spemteber 17 to October 3, 33% new oak for ageing, Michel-Bernard Couasnon consultant.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
One of the great wines of the vintage in the Médoc, from perfectly conserved bottles, the 1982 Sociando-Mallet continues to display extraordinary vitality and intensity of flavor at age 40. Wafting from the glass with aromas of cassis, burning embers, pencil shavings and sweet soil tones, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a racy spine of acidity and sweet, powdery tannins, concluding with a long, penetrating finish.
It has a lovely bouquet of red currant and cranberry fruit, warm bricks (terracotta?), a touch of Marmite and dried herbs. Maybe a little rustic, but there is plenty of freshness and complexity. The palate is well balanced with dry tannin and vestiges of red berry fruit. The earthy notes are more pronounced than in another bottle tasted in February 2017. But there is still freshness and depth here, plus a welcome pinch of black pepper and sage toward the finish. (NM)
Harvest date 17 Sep-3 Oct; yield 70.9 hl/ha; vineyard area 27.74 ha Very luscious-looking crimson – extremely dark, really almost out to the edge. Voluptuous nose that really is quite unlike its precedents – almost New World-like. Velvety with just a hint at the sort of St-Estèphe rigour one expects (and has seen in earlier vintages) here. Sweet start and still really quite youthful. Lots of dense fruit and much vibrancy on the palate. Thick and still with some of the trademark freshness and very firm tannic backbone – perhaps firmer than in some of the more recent vintages I'm about to taste? – but really quite, quite different from any previous vintage. Long, still chewy finish. Strong cassis flavour still. (JR)