The 2020 Sociando-Mallet is very attractive, exhibiting aromas of cassis and plums mingled with notions of pencil shavings, loamy soil, tobacco leaf and licorice. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with lively acids and powdery tannins, it's a strong effort from a site that always does well in warm vintages. The 2020 is a blend of 53% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc. Sociando-Mallet has long been a favorite of Bordeaux insiders, and it's easy to understand why. Occupying the same terrace of Gunzian gravel that one finds at estates such as Montrose, L?oville-Las Cases and Latour (and planted at a high density of 8,333 vines per hectare), it's located just to the north of Saint-Est?phe, right on the banks of the Gironde. That location, delivering temperatures some two to three degrees Celsius cooler than Margaux to the south, combined with clay subsoils, means that this estate invariably delivers especially fine performances in warm, dry vintages (the 2003 is showing beautifully today, for example). And although it wasn't planted in 1855 and thus isn't a classified growth, Sociando-Mallet's performance in blind tastings tells its own story.