Vinodata

Carménère

The Carménère variety bunch of grapes consists of sparse, roundish berries of varying size. The pulp is juicy covered by a very tough, blue-black waxy skin. If the skin is chewed, has a reminiscent taste of grass. In its homeland, France, Carménère is almost forgotten; meanwhile it is well-known in Chile. After the rediscovery of Carménère out of Merlot plantations, by the French ampelographer Jean Michel Boursiquot, in 1993, the variety became the flagship of the Chilean wine industry. Carménère, known as Grande Vidure as well, was named after the French adjective carmin (carmine, crimson lake or cochineal in English from Medieval Latin carminium and from French kermès, from Sanskrit krmija- red dye, literally: produced by a worm, from krmi worm + ja – produced, from Old Spanish cremesin “of or belonging to the kermes” (the dried bodies of female scale insects of the genus Kermes from which a deep red dye was obtained), from Medieval Latin cremesinus, crimson, the colour of the aluminium salt of carminic acid), because in autumn, the Carménère leaves acquire their distinctive bright deep red colour coming from their content of anthocyanins, the hydrosoluble pigments found in plant cell vacuoles which allow leaves, flowers and fruits to express themselves through a crimson red, purple or blue pigmentation. Additionally and coincidentally, Carménère ripening process develops slowly than any other wine grape variety and it is usually harvested in the mid or final autumn when the foliage is in its characteristic colour, late in the season just before the leaf-fall.

Carménère derives from the Vitis biturica which arrived in the area of Bordeaux during the Roman period, although Pliny the Elder [1] (in 71 AD) reports that it was cultivated in the area of Bordeaux by the Bituriges Celtic tribes, while just a bit earlier, Columella [2] states that it came from Durrës (Albania) and he knew of its cultivation in various areas of Iberia (Spain), particularly in what is today Rioja. Within the mixed Cabernet family, in the 1800s in Bordeaux, France, two varieties stood out and even had their own name – Cabernet Sauvignon and the Cabernet Franc group. Among these Cabernets, as confirmed by studies carried out in France in the beginning of the 20th century (Ampélographie by P.Viala and V.Vermorel, 1905), was the Carménère variety which was identifiable thanks to a number of morphological and organoleptic features of its grape. Carménère distinguish from Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc due to its larger and sparser clusters, growth, low fertility, aroma and more intense colour of its grapes (Ampélographie Universelle by P. Odart, 1849). Carménère tannins are velvety and sweeter than their relatives Cabernets and its fruit is riper as well as its acidity is lower. Armound d’Armilhacq, Ancient Magistrat et Propietaire dans le Medoc, wrote about Carménère (that he called also and indistinctly gros Cabernet, Carmenet, Grosse-Vidure, Carbernet and Cabernelle) in 1867: “The grape of Cabernelle is sweet and sugared, its taste is excellent. It’s even better than the two cabernets; the wine it produces reflects these qualities. It is soft, meanwhile full and rich in body. It associates very well with cabernets features which give a rounder flavour. It lasts as well as with age, improves toward perfection” [3]

The Carménère grape is a wine grape variety originally planted in the Médoc region of Bordeaux, France, where it was used to produce deep red wines and occasionally used for blending purposes in the same manner as Petit Verdot. A member of the Cabernet family of grapes, the name “Carménère” originates from the French word for crimson (carmin) which refers to the brilliant crimson colour of the autumn foliage prior to leaf-fall. The grape is also known as Grande Vidure, a historic Bordeaux synonym, although current European Union regulations prohibit Chilean imports under this name into the European Union. Along with Cabernet sauvignon, Cabernet franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit verdot, Carménère is considered part of the original six red grapes of Bordeaux, France. Now rarely found in France, the world’s largest area planted with this variety is in Chile in South America, with more than 8,800 hectares (2009) cultivated in the Central Valley. As such, Chile produces the vast majority of Carménère wines available today and as the Chilean wine industry grows, more experimentation is being carried out on Carménère’s potential as a blending grape, especially with Cabernet Sauvignon. Carménère is also grown in Italy’s Eastern Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions and in smaller quantities in the California and Walla Walla regions of the United States.

The association of a grape variety with a growing area is something considered desirable and usual in viticulture. Several examples of this kind exist in the world; however that had not been possible in Chile until 1994 when Carménère was rediscovered. It was the “Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile” that proposed Carménère as Chilean’s emblematic variety. Carménère was rediscovered, a variety that according to literature was at the origin of the fame of the wines of Medoc in France, before philoxera in the XIX century made it disappear from French viticulture. An ampelographic description of Carménère is done and a discussion of its cultivation and agronomic requirements, the sensitivity to pests and diseases and its technological potential.