Sociando Mallet 1990 (6.0L)

96 WS / 93 WA / 17+ JR

Amazing wine for the vintage. Black-ruby color. Stupendous aromas of crushed berries, currants, cherries and minerals. Full-bodied, with superconcentration of fruit and wonderfully polished tannins. Goes on and on.--1990 Bordeaux retrospective. Best after 2005.-Wine Spectator

One of the reference point vintages for this northern Médoc estate, the 1990 Sociando-Mallet offers up a boisterous bouquet of cassis, pencil shavings, loamy soil, smoke and spices. Medium to full-bodied, seamless and fleshy, it's beautifully balanced, with a generous core of fruit, melted tannins and lively acids. It would embarrass any number of classified growths in this vintage—as is so often the case!-William Kelley, The Wine Advocate

Deep crimson with more brilliance than the 1989. Firm, meaty and vibrant on the nose. Very luscious and hedonistic with more acidity than the 1989. This gives the impression of being far from its final flowering in the bottle. Dense and velvety with some of the property's freshness, it has a very long finish and is certainly flattering – though seems much more youthful than most 1990s. Clean and brisk on the finish. Just a few dusty tannins on the end. Thick! Long. -Jancis Robinson