Sociando-Mallet is one of my favorite Bordeaux wineries, because it blows many higher priced classed growths out of the water. The 1986 vintage is one of my favorites, because it was a great vintage in Bordeaux and was the year I married Helen. Having your anniversary match up to an incredibly long-lived Bordeaux is one of the happiest coincidences a wine lover can imagine,
When last noted in 2007, the 1986 Chateau Sociando-Mallet reminded me of a "10-year old Napa cabernet." It was "the same age as Lindsay Lohan and just about as immature, although not as blowsy, as Ms Lohan."
Ms. Lohan seemingly has not matured, but the 1986 Chateau Sociando-Mallet has. This bottle's cork was stained almost to the top and the bottle was showing ulllage down to the very bottom of the neck, which was quite worrisome. But all was well. Although it still had dark fruit in plenty (and remained a deep garnet color), this bottle offered many more maturity markers such as smoke, leather, dried fruits, and so on. Grade: A-/A
With two bottles left in my cellar, I will not be looking for more at auction. Instead, I'll probably open the next in 2016 and see where we go from there with respect to the last bottle.
