Can Chile's Carmenère Compete With The Best Red Wines of the World? part I

“Carmenère will be Chile’s flagship variety,” declared Rene Merino, the President of Wines of Chile in 2010. When I heard this, my jaw dropped and my eyes widened in disbelief. What?! This herbal, dark, tannic variety with as much bitterness as blackberry fruit would be promoted as the emblematic red wine from Chile? Surely this is madness, I silently thought to myself at that time.

The star role of Carmenère for Chile was announced in the Strategic Plan 2020 in 2010, shortly before I was in Santiago judging in the annual Wines of Chile competition. During my weeklong stay in Chile in 2011, I tasted several dozen Carmenères and found most of them to be lacking.

Six years later, after tasting nearly 50 Carmenères in Santiago last month, I was again, in disbelief, but this time for the opposite reason. I could not believe how dramatically Carmenère had changed and how wrong I was to dismiss this variety. The Carmenères I tasted were worlds apart from the selection I tried six years ago. The dark berry fruit was ripe; gone were the harsh tannins and bitter finish. In their place, dark savory herbs, spices and firm grippy tannins provided nice backbone to these full-bodied, luscious reds.

Carmenère is a former Bordeaux variety that went out of favor after the phylloxera epidemic, which was caused by a root-eating louse that decimated vineyards across France in the late 19th century. When the vineyards were replanted after finding the solution to the phylloxera problem – planting on American rootstocks – the Bordelais decided not to replant Carmenère because it had trouble ripening in the maritime climate.

Even in Chile, where the weather is more favorable to ripening Carmenère, it is hard to get it right. Eduardo Chadwick, president and owner of Errazuriz who makes a gorgeous Carmenère called Kai, says, “Out of the classic Bordeaux grape varieties, Carmenère is the latest to ripen, having the longest cycle to mature. Therefore, Chile´s wonderful growing conditions with sunny, long dry summers and autumns are ideal to ripen this grape variety to perfection almost every season.”

However, he adds a note of caution: “To shine for its quality, it has to achieve a high level of ripeness, therefore it has to be grown in the right terroirs with enough sun exposure to ripen and to burn out its natural pyrazines [unripe, herbaceous flavors].”

Aurelio Montes, of Montes winery, is cautiously optimistic about the future of Carmenère. “Yes we now have very good Carmenères but it will take another full generation to really get it right. We had a bad beginning because when we started, we were not always planting in the best places and we didn’t know how to handle the tough tannins. So some people may have had a bad image or experience with Carmenère.”



Partner: EcotripsChile / EcotripsChile-Patagonia / Hiking in Torres del Paine / Mayurutours.