Tiffany's Wine of the Year is a treasure from France
Wine bargain hunters take note: Tiffany's Wine and Spirits' Wine of the Year offers so much for so little.
The Mas de Chimeres (MAH day sheeMARE) 2006 -- from southern France -- has wide appeal, goes well with food, has a great kick (14.5 percent alcohol) and can be aged. It's young but tastes like it's aged. It costs $20 but tastes like something you would normally pay $50 to $100 for.
It went on sale Dec. 1 at Tiffany's, 1714 W. Main St., and it is exclusive to Tiffany's. Once Tiffany's owner Habib Mandwee and brother and manager Saad Mandwee decided the wine was their Wine of the Year, they bought all the bottles that were produced -- about 255 cases.
They made the selection in September after tasting about 32 top wines in the store with several staffers and one independent taster. It was the first time the store purchased an entire shipment for its annual holiday pick.
"It's a great gift, a great discovery," Habib Mandwee said. "That is what we try to get. We may take a trip to the Rhone region (of France) to get more of those types of wines for Kalamazoo."
The Mas des Chimeres, aged in wooden casks since 2006, was bottled and shipped at the end of October. It was aged in oak barrique -- huge oak barrels -- instead of the standard, more expensive smaller barrels.
The wine is made of 70 percent Syrah grapes, 20 percent Grenache, 5 percent Cinsault and 5 percent Mourvedre. The grapes were grown in the Couteaux du Languedoc district of the Rhone region. Poor soil conditions and dry, harsh weather produced low yields of grapes with a high concentration of flavor. The wine is made by the Louise /Dressner company and imported by Duilhem Darde.
"Wine vines love to be stressed," said Bill Weier, one of Tiffany's judges, about the soil and weather conditions that produced the grapes for the Mas des Chimeres. "Most people think you want rich soil and lots of rainfall. No. You want to see big rocks, a terrain where you say to yourself, 'I don't think anything can grow here.' The fewer bunches of grapes a vine produces, the better the quality of grapes. The grapes get the full attention of the vines."
Contact William R. Wood at bwood@kalamazoogazette.com or 388-8549.
Local comments
Here's what several people from Southwest Michigan are saying about the Mas des Chimeres 2006:
Bill Weier, Tiffany's wine judge:
"It's nice and dense, has a good color, good structure and a real spiciness that is hard to get in other wine-growing regions around the world."
Steve Duisterhof, president of Gordon Water Systems:
"I liked the mouth feel -- it had more tannins that I expected. It had nice fruit, a lot of crushed cherries in there, but it also had a structure that would hold up to food. It was a balanced, well-rounded wine, interesting enough for you to want to go back to it again."
Eric Miles, financial advisor:
"It is a tremendous value to sum it up. It drinks like things that are three or four times as expensive. It is earthy, with some fruit, but not overly fruity. I bought a case, but I'm definitely going back for more."
Caroline Carpenter, staffer for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation:
"It's a marvelous wine you can swish around in your mouth and savor the flavor. The taste is very clear. It doesn't seem like anything is battling in the chemistry. Just a really nice wine."