Château Sociando-Mallet is located in the town of Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne north of Pauillac, its vineyard dominates the Gironde estuary. In 1969, when Jean Gautrau decided to acquire Sociando-Mallet , there were only 5 hectares of vines left in production. Today the estate covers more than 110 hectares. The vineyard occupies the mound of Baleyron, one of the finest gravelly terroirs in the Médoc . Jean Gautrau favors the production of grapes concentrated in tannins, sugars, color and aromas.

Since historial times, the Haut-Médoc was a vast region of salt marshes used for animal grazing rather than viticulture. In the 17th century, Dutch merchants began an ambitious drainage project to convert the marshland into a usable vineyard area. Using advanced technology during that period, the Dutch were able to convert enough marshland to allow large estates to form all along the Gironde. Soon the Bordeaux wine regions of Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe took shape. By the 19th century, the wine region of the Haut-Médoc was one of the most prosperous in France, with wine that had an international reputation that would be unparalleled until the late 20th century.