Sociando-Mallet is the poster child for what cru bourgeois estates can achieve. This is a wine that is consistently of classified-growth quality and also one of the longest lived wines made in the Medoc. An exceptional vintage for Sociando-Mallet, 2003 has produced a spectacularly concentrated, inky blue/purple-colored wine with an extraordinary nose of blackberries, raspberries, some white flowers, and a hint of lead pencil shavings. The wine is powerful, extremely full-bodied, quite tannic, and seriously endowed. This is stunning wine that is rich, layered, and in need of 5-6 years of bottle-age. It should keep for 30+ years. It is certainly a riveting effort for the vintage and, as I wrote last year, probably a modern-day version of a hypothetical blend of a 1970 and a 1982.

The 2003 Sociando-Mallet is drinking brilliantly, wafting from the glass with a deep bouquet of blackberry and cassis mingled with hints of loamy soil, cigar box and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, layered and muscular, with a deep core of fruit, impressively lively acids and ample reserves of rich, powdery tannin, it is one of the real successes of the vintage. It's also one of the most youthful-tasting 2003s you can find today.

The 2003 Sociando-Mallet is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc picked between September 10 and 24. It was aged in new oak barrels for 11 months. Coming from the north Médoc, it would have enjoyed onshore breezes that mitigated the summer heat. The bouquet shows no signs of that warmth, offering notes of pressed flowers, pomegranate, smoke and tobacco that open up nicely with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine definition, a delicate touch of white pepper and sage, good depth and a very cohesive, tobacco and spice finish that lingers long in the mouth. This is a great wine for the vintage and continues to give a lot of pleasure. Tasted at the vertical tasting at Sociando-Mallet.

Ruby-red. Roasted black and red fruits on the rather exotic nose, with a smoky nuance. Fat, thick and sweet, with chewy black fruit flavors and dusty tannins that coat the incisors. A distinctly powerful Sociando at 13.1% alcohol, but not at all flat or heavy.