Deep ruby, tight rim. Floral. Ripe nose- raisin, cherry. The palate leads to tones of dark fruit(currants and cherries), spices, black peppery, and is still cedary. Medium, dry finish. An excellent food wine for the mineral touch. Balance and elegance-it is a bottle that gives quite a different taste profile. The wine benefited from bottle ageing and still got some mileage. Also, only some have tasted wine in Hong Kong.
Halfway between Margaux and Saint Julien, it is slightly apart from the D2. The Chateau is close yet sheltered from the main thoroughfares and profited from this discrete and privileged location to produce authentic and honest Moulis wines.
Scores not bad, for example
From the Poujeaux section of Moulis, Dutruch Grand Poujeaux is still family-owned and -inhabited. This is deliciously fruity and ripe; generous tannins firmly balance the juicy black-currant flavour. A concentrated wine that will undoubtedly age well. Edited.
Updated: Jul 19, 2023
Sociando Mallet uniquely shapes my tasting career: it helps form my wine quality concept. What struck me most about Sociando Mallet is their consistency. . Not only are they excellent in the good years, but they are also very well made in the less-good times. While it's always true that not all tasters like the Socialndo Mallet style, its performance, at least in the eyes of Parker et al., is always far better in structure, harmony, elegance and balance than some of the Crus, regardless of the vintage conditions. Every time I tasted the bottles, I was always in a meditative state.
Based in the Haut-Medoc just north of St Estephe, Sociando Mallet did not exist at the time of the 1855 classification and had no chance to opt to enter the Cru Bourgeois system. Neither a classed growth nor a Cru Bourgeois, Sociando-Mallet is structurally placed as an anomaly. To me, Sociando-Mallet is just too good to be classified. And this query, whether we need classification systems, is always on my mind.
The average age of the vines is 35 years, with 55% being Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc; hence there are always complexities and intensities with the wines. The great vineyard sites, which lie on gravel over a clay-limestone subsoil sloping down to the river, are unusual in that they ripen quicker than their more southerly counterparts and are therefore picked earlier. The Chateau’s wines are always matured in 100% new barrels; hence there is always a spectrum of nose and taste.
This is rare for a non-classed growth, but the fact the wines absorb this amount of new oak so comfortably underlines their structure and quality. With 20 years+ of ageing for these four off-vintaged sets, all vintages are woven with silky fruit/wood tannins with unique wine structures. Yet all vintage shows peculiar characters. All vintages tasted are form roughly from 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc described above. Fruit tones(primary, secondary and tertiary) are overall well balanced.
2002 reflects the fruity character of the vintage. Deep ruby with a medium garnet rim gives a classic Haut Medoc bouquet with a pleasant fruity touch and melted tar and graphite aromas with time. Masculine and earthy, the palate is somewhat grainy, barely drying, and in synthesis with the structure. This 2002 is precisely the kind of good work Sociando Mallet can do in a difficult vintage.
2003 is mega-concentrated. With silky tannins, sappy acidity, and excellent fruit length, the fruit nose is primary mainly, with few signs of evolution. Tannins are sweet. With deep ruby with a medium garnet rim, it noses notes of blackberries, blackcurrants and a pleasant touch of eucalyptus. On the palate, it is fruity, fresh, balanced and persistent finish(tones of cedar, leather, spices).
2012 is fresher. Deep purple colour with a tight pink rim. Sweetish dark fruit, ripe tannins, decent acidity, medium to full-bodied mouthfeel and stunning cassis fruit in the finish put this wine right amid the best-classified crus from the Médoc not classified. Go figure. Soft and easy to drink, this wine will still age beautifully for another five years.
2014. Deep, ruby, tight rim. it shows lots of potential. Intense Blackcurrant tones. Smoky aroma; austere, robust build, dense, of good length, tensioned; the style has remained faithfully Sociando-Mallet, but compared to the primeur pattern, it appears harsher and has lost some of its balance—mineral finish, full-bodied, structured, as intense as the nose. Could taste too intense for some. Steadfast.
The team formed an optimistic view of Pontet Canet 2010 from an impressive vertical tasting on Chateau Pontet Canet conducted by Alfred Tesseron at the Hong Kong KCC Wine Society years back, vintages from 2000 to 2010 tasted in a roll, with 2012 being one of the dinner wine bottles. That evening, the 2010 vintage showed off the fruitiness through its rock-buster style- the palate was relaxed enough to appreciate 2010's power, good balance, fruit and terroir expression.
Chateau Pontet Canet 2010 has always been viewed favourably by wine critics, bloggers, and merchants. It scores consistently. Take, for example, the total 100 points from Robert Parker and Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW. With years of ageing in bottle, Pontet Canet 2010 rounded up.
RRP100. An amazing wine from grapes harvested between the end of September and October 17, this blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot has close to 15% natural alcohol. It comes from one of the few biodynamic vineyards in Bordeaux. Still, you are likely to see many more, given the success that Tesseron seems to be having at all levels, both in his vineyards and in his fermentation/winemaking. An excellent, compelling wine with the classic Pauillac nose more often associated with its cross-street neighbour, Mouton-Rothschild, creme de cassis, there are also some violets and other assorted floral notes. The wine has off-the-charts massiveness and intensity but never comes across as heavy, overbearing or astringent. The freshness, laser-like precision, and full-bodied, massive richness and extract are remarkable to behold and experience. It is straightforward to become jaded tasting such great wines from a great vintage, but it is a privilege to taste something as amazing as this. Unfortunately, it needs a good decade of cellaring, assuming it doesn't close down over the next few years. This is a 50- to 75-year wine from one of Bordeaux's half-dozen or so most compulsive and obsessive proprietors. Is there anything that proprietor Alfred Tesseron needs to do differently? Talk about an estate that is on top of its game! Pontet-Canet's 2010 is a more structured, tannic and restrained version of their most recent perfect wine, 2009. Kudos to Pontet-Canet. Edited.
100 Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW. The 2010 Pontet-Canet is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot. Deep garnet-black in colour, it sashays out of the glass with opulent scents of Chinese five spice, smoked meats, and cigar box over a core of prunes, redcurrant jelly, and fruitcake with a waft of espresso. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a firm, grainy structure with tons of freshness supporting the rich spice and fruit preserves layers, finishing with great length. It is delicious to drink now! Edited.
