A vertical of Sociando Mallet

I bought at least a few bottles of SM every vintage from '95-04, I kick myself for not buying more of most of those vintages, but last two were lackluster buys.

OK, just looked up my notes, I liked '03 S-M better than I remembered. It was '02 and '04 that I felt were less thrilling (and latter had a substantial price increase as Matt noted)

Whatever the global currency reasons, 2004 SM at $40 is not a buy for me. Ditto 2006. It may be a decent bargain relative to other (woefully overpriced) Bordeaux, but there are certainly others I would buy first.

In 2004 Sociando was $9 more than Branaire, $5 more than Pontet Canet, same price as Duhart Millon. For an extra $4 I got Leoville Barton, $7 got me Montrose, $16 got Pichon Baron, $5 for Poyferre, $17 for Ducru Beaucaillou. To me those are all better buys.

I agree that in the past SM was wonderfully underpriced. These days I say it's average.

[David M. Bueker]

In 2004 Sociando was $9 more than Branaire, $5 more than Pontet Canet, same price as Duhart Millon. For an extra $4 I got Leoville Barton, $7 got me Montrose, $16 got Pichon Baron, $5 for Poyferre, $17 for Ducru Beaucaillou. To me those are all better buys.

I agree that in the past SM was wonderfully underpriced. These days I say it's average.

You're prices are radically different from what I got in my market. Branaire was more expensive than Sociando ($34.99 for the '04 SM) for me, as was Pontet Canet (which I bought). I didn't have a local source for Duhart. Leoville Barton was about $10 more (though I bought it as well - I always did until '005). Montrose was $25 over SM, Pichon Baron also $25 over SM.

Admittedly I only buy futures locally so that I can wring the neck of the merchant to get my stuff if required (of course I also don't pay NY sales tax or shipping to get it to me - big savings there).