TN: 2001 Sociando Mallet

[William P]

Controversy seems to follow this wine. I popped and poured yesterday to give it a try. Inkie purple color. muted nose. What was obvious fromt he first sip was the dreaded green was present. So after a glass I corked it and back into the cellar for tomorrow.

I reopened it today and the wine is delightful. The green pepper is gone but there is a herbal quality present. It is a medium bodied wine with medium concentration. Good acidity and tannins present but not harsh or aggressive. Nicely balanced

the nose reminds me of leather and cedar with primary berries.

Dark profile to the fruit, some cedar on the palate. Still very youthful. Nice vibrancy on the plate. Average aftertaste. Compared to the the SM of the past this is a lightweight but still enjoyable. If you are green intolerant this is not a wine for you. No need to drink this soon.

Bill

[Otto Nieminen]

I must have missed the controversy. I liked the wine: pleasantly savoury rather than underripe. Though, like we were talking elsewhere, perhaps I am too tolerant to green notes...

[JimHow]

Isn't greenness a basic feature of Sociando-Mallet regardless of vintage?

[Claudius]

Guys,
I reviewed the wine here a few months ago and I have to say I found it tooo vegetal for my taste, though there was nice underlying fruit.
It did improve with air but was always green. It was better than the Reserve de Comtesse 2001 though.

Jim,
I think that SM tends to have a green tobacco character most vintages, but I've had several that showed little or no evidence of it - 82, 86, 90, 95 and 96. Have not tried the 00 or 03 yet. I think the 96 is my fav - as a young wine (on release) it showed some lovely fragrant, perfumed fruit as well as cool, minerally characters. It has been a few years since I've opened one, but I've never noted overt greenness - maybe a touch of leafy, tobacco character but that was more a complexity than a strong flavour.