The literal translation of Mas des Chimères is "House of the Chimera," which fittingly describes this inexpensive wine that tastes like it has been aged. The mythical Greek chimera had blended aspects of a lion, a dragon, and a goat – a fantastical animal which represented something quite improbable.
Imagination and fantasy were to be rooted in reality when winemaker Guilhem Dardé struck out on his own with Mas des Chimères. He had spent 20 years of perfecting his viticultural skills by growing and selling grapes to a local coop before he introduced the wine in 2003.
Importer Louis/Dressner states that it "aptly describes the amount of faith, dreaming and daring it took Dardé to change his life and become a winemaker."
This wine is reasonably priced at $20, but tastes like something more expensive – in the $50 to $100 price range. Kim Messenge from Wine Spectator gives it 89 points out of a possible 100. She describes it as showing "very intense licorice and red plum flavors, with plenty of pepper and smoke. Has supple tannins, good balance and a firm structure, with a cocoa powder finish. Syrah, Grenache, Mouvèdre and Cinsault. Drink now through 2012."
David Schildkneckt, from The Wine Advocate, also believes Mas des Chimères deserves a rating of 89 points. "It needs a few minutes in the air to reveal its considerable complexity and subtlety, " he says, "Salty, smoky nuances add appeal to the finish and encourage the next sip. I would highly recommend following a few bottles for another year or two, as I suspect it has even more to give."
The grape varietals that compose this dark purple wine are 70% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 5% Cinsault, and 5% Mourvedre. The wine has been aged since 2006 in oak barriques, huge oak barrels, instead of the smaller but standard more expensive smaller barrels. There is a noticeable sediment in the bottle due to the unfiltered pigments and solid matter.
Dardé grows his grapes in a remote corner of the Côteaux-du-Languedoc appellation. The poor soils and harsh, dry weather conditions produce low yields of highly concentrated fruit. Traditional agricultural techniques are used in the vineyards. Techniques include plowing, adding copper and sulfur treatments, and manually harvesting the grapes. The grape vines grow on strips of clay, schist, and granite soil and form terraces on the red slopes of the area.
Dardé also makes a series of other wines, but because of the small quantities and continued popularity in France, they are not imported abroad.
Resources for Further Reading:
Ellen Wilson - Studied in Shakespeare, biology, astrology, and psychology, Ellen Wilson is a Renaissance woman extroardinaire.
