Carmenere

I thought I’d shed some light on one of my favorite  grape varieties many find mysterious, and for good reason.  Carmenere (kar-ma-nair-uh) is often referred to as the lost Bordeaux varietal.  It was mainly used in France as a blending grape, much like Malbec.  Carmenere was wiped out in the late 19th century due to a Phylloxera epidemic which killed most of the vineyards in France.  Phylloxera are little insects that feed off the vines.

Prior to the Phylloxera invasion, Chilean winery owners imported Carmenere vines and planted them in their vineyards.  This is where the mystery of the grape begins.  For almost a century, Carmenere was thought to be Merlot.  It is very similar in appearance and Carmenere was thought to have died off with the other varieties in France.  Carmenere was picked as Merlot and labeled as Merlot.  It wasn’t until the early 1990’s, through DNA testing, that it was isolated as Carmenere.

In current times, Carmenere is almost indigenous to Chile.  Very little can be found around the world, including France.  Since realizing they had an abundance of Carmenere, Chilean wineries have been experimenting with the grape as it’s own varietal, as opposed to just using it as a blending grape.  Carmenere takes much longer to ripen on the vine than Merlot, so when it was picked with Merlot, it wasn’t ripe enough to show its true qualities.  Attempts in the 1990’s to produce it on its own many times resulted in a very “green” tasting wine with high acidity and a big smokey nose.  There is a distinct “green pepper” vegetal quality to the taste and nose, and when picked early it is much more pronounced.  Through experimentation, winemakers realized that Carmenere needed much more time on the vine to ripen.  Now it is picked closer to when Cabernet is (and many times after), which is much later in the harvest than Merlot.  After having learned how to handle the grape from vineyard to barrel aging to bottle, there are many stellar Carmenere’s coming out of Chile.  It has a deep red color, softer tannins than Cabernet, but still can be a bold wine.  It’s characteristics are spicy, earthy, green pepper, blackberry and coffee.

A few of my favorites are La Playa Block Selection Carmenere ($11) – Mont Gras Reserva Carmenere ($11) – Apaltagua Estate Carmenere ($9)

Carmenere Grapes                                    Merlot Grapes