A Basque aristocrat named Sociando
Château Sociando-Mallet is in the commune of Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne, ten kilometres north of Pauillac, in the Haut-Médoc appellation. A document dating from March 1633 refers to land here belonging to an aristocrat of Basque origin named Sociondo. A member of his family was Bishop of Bayonne. Another document, from 1750 mentions vines belonging to Demoiselle Anne de Sossiondo. Due to various misspellings over the years, "Sossiondo" became "Sociando".
The archives show that Guillaume de Brochon, a royalist solicitor who lived at Sociando, was arrested during the French Revolution in 1793. His estate was impounded, sold at auction by the revolutionary government, and acquired by his father-in-law, Jean Lamothe.
In 1831, Marie-Elisabeth Alaret, Lamothe's niece and owner of Sociando, married Achille Mallet, a naval officer. As it was the custom at the time to add one's name to an estate, the château was thereafter known as Sociando-Mallet.
The Alaret family owned Sociando-Mallet until 1878, when it came into the hands of Léon Simon.
Between then and the arrival of Jean Gautreau, the château belonged to: the wine merchant firm of Delor, Louis Roullet (Mayor of Saint-Seurin), and then Emile Tereygeol, who also owned Pontoise-Cabarrus at that time.