Carmenere lost grape of Bordeaux

Wines & Vines, May, 2000 by Kevin Sinclair

Chile is turning to the Carmenere grape-the legendary "lost grape of Bordeaux"--to give a stamp of unique authority to its wine industry. Enologists for many years noted the deep color and robust character of the sumptuous Merlots of Chile. The reason was simple although nobody knew it; many of the grapes were not Merlot.

It was only in 1993 when the renowned viticulturist Professor Jean-Michel Boursiquit of Ensa de Montpellier carried out a detailed scientific survey that winegrowers realized the two similar vines had been growing together for more than a century.

When the grapes were separated and pressed, they gave different results. And when winemakers tasted the pure Carmenere, they realized they had been ignoring a potential huge and profitable asset.

Led by the De Martino family winery, which was among the first to recognize the opportunity, Chilean winemakers stampeded to recognize, then segregate and develop Carmenere. More than a score of labels now proudly produce the varietal.

"This is Chile's new flag," enthuses marketing director Paula De Martino.

After much pondering, the European Union in December 1998, recognized the Chilean claim to have rediscovered a classical grape variety. When the decision was announced, there was already a container of De Martino Carmenere on a ship bound for France.

Today, Chilean wine exporters are offering global distributors a fast-growing flood of the revived varietal, which was once a major bulwark of Bordeaux.

Many Chilean vintners and export managers now seek to position Carmenere as "the Chilean grape."

They see it developing to fill the same position as Zinfandel in California, Tempranillo in Spain, Pinotage in South Africa, Shiraz in Australia and Sangiovese in Italy, giving Chile the opportunity to present to the world a varietal of true individual character.

Although the grape now seems as modern as the new millennium, it has an old and respected ancestry.

When the dreaded louse phylloxera burrowed its way through the vineyards of Europe and the rest of the world in the 1890s, Chile escaped the devastating plague. Protected to the north by arid desert, to the south by Antarctica, to the east by the high Andes and by the Pacific to the west, Chile never saw the louse.

When other nations replanted they naturally selected the most prominent and profitable vines. Although Carmenere had been used for centuries to blend with Cabernet Sauvignon in Bordeaux, no new plantings were made when the French vineyards came back to life.

So Carmenere, which had been taken to Chile by French winemakers hired by wealthy landowners in the late 19th century, flourished in South America when it was only a fading memory in Europe.

But by 1994, official statistics showed only 10 hectares (one ha = 2.47 acres) were planted in all France.

Throughout the country's wine regions, Carmenere vines had been growing amid the Merlot. The vines are very similar, but the Carmenere has subtle strengths that make its fruit distinctive.

Chilean winemakers soon began experimenting to see how it stood up as a varietal in its own right. They were delighted with the results. Here was a red wine that was fruity, lively, full of vigor and flavor.

"Carmenere is the buzz word," says Jorge Taulis, export manager of the large family-owned Vina Canepa. "Five years ago, nobody had heard of it." Today, Vina Canepa is enthusiastically marketing its own varietal.

It is a tribute to the imagination and verve, not to mention courage of the Chilean wine industry, that seven years after a "new" grape varietal was discovered that Carmenere is now on wine lists and supermarket shelves on five continents.