Mas des Chimères Oeillade 2014

You don’t expect to find a wine like this on a supermarket shelf, even in their upmarket in-store cave but that’s exactly where I discovered this delicious organic red in my friends’ local Hyper U.

It comes from the Coteaux du Salagou an appellation to the north-east of Clermont l’Hérault, is made from cinsault (currently one of my favourite grapes for everyday drinking) and at just 12% is one of those incredibly quaffable vins de soif you come across in France these days. I can’t remember the exact price but think it was around €8.

Mas des Chimères, which was set up in 1993 is run by the handsomely moustachioed Guilhem Dardé, his wife Palma and his daughter Maguelone. They recommend the Oeillade with ‘grillades’ - in other words simply grilled meat.

Frustratingly it doesn’t appear to be available in the UK (maybe someone would like to remedy that?) but you can buy it online in France from 1907.fr which sells it for €7.50 - or from the cellar door. Louis Dressner imports it in the US.