Brought from Bordeaux in the 19th century, the grape was only identified in 1994 by a French expert and recognized in Chile in 1998
Anyone who opens a Chilean Carménère today is drinking a grape that, until a little over 30 years ago, Chile's own growers did not know they had. The variety spent decades planted alongside Merlot and sold under its name, until a French expert noticed that some of those vines were something else.
Carménère comes from Bordeaux, in France, where it was used in blends, mainly in Graves and Pessac-Léognan, according to Wine Folly. Highly sensitive to phylloxera, the pest that devastated European vineyards in the 19th century, the grape nearly vanished from the region: when replanting, growers chose Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which are easier to grow, and Carménère came to be considered practically extinct.
Before that, however, cuttings had crossed the ocean. According to Concha y Toro, the variety was taken from France to Chile sometime between 1840 and 1890. There, it grew mixed in with Merlot and came to be treated as if it were Merlot.
The mistake was only cleared up in 1994. French ampelographer Jean-Michel Boursiquot, a professor in Montpellier and an expert in identifying grape varieties, was visiting a winery in the Maipo Valley at the invitation of a former student, who wanted to show him a new Merlot vineyard. According to Concha y Toro's account, he found the leaves and shoot tips odd and confirmed his suspicion in the flowers, which in Carménère have twisted stamens. Wine Folly adds that the false Merlot vines ripened much later than the others and that about half of Chilean Merlot was actually Carménère.
The first wine from the newly identified grape came out in 1996, from Viña Carmen, under the name Grande Vidure, because Carménère was not yet registered. Chile's Ministry of Agriculture only recognized the variety in 1998.
Carménère's most striking trait is pyrazines, compounds that give aromas of bell pepper, black pepper and eucalyptus. Concha y Toro says that, when very intense, these aromas can be off-putting, and that with time in the bottle they soften and make room for chocolate and cherry. Wines made from pure Carménère lean toward red fruit, such as raspberry, according to Wine Folly; most Chilean examples, however, include about 15% of another grape, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Petit Verdot. Outside Chile, the variety appears on a small scale in Italy, Australia, the United States and Brazil.
Bebidário's catalog also includes Undurraga U Carménère and Emiliana Adobe Reserva Carmenere.
Sources: Concha y Toro (November 13, 2020), Wine Folly (March 7, 2017).
