Chateau Sociando Mallet Haut-Médoc, 2016

Sociando-Mallet is a famous "outsider" — an unclassed Haut-Médoc estate (never entered into the 1855 Classification or the Cru Bourgeois system by choice of longtime owner Jean Gautreau) that is widely regarded as producing wine of classified-growth quality. 57-hectare vineyard atop the Baleyron hill in Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne, just north of Saint-Estèphe, on gravel/clay over clay-limestone subsoil. Average vine age 35 years. Hand-harvested, sorted, traditional fermentation in temperature-controlled cement and stainless steel vats with pump-overs and rack-and-return; 25-day vatting; malolactic in vats; aged 12 months in barrels, 90% new oak.