Carmenère
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Carmenère 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.
The world's largest area planted with this variety is now found in the Central Valleys of Chile in South America, with more than 4,000 Hectares (2006).
Presently, it is almost impossible to find Carmenere wines in France as a Phylloxera plague in 1867 nearly destroyed all the vineyards of Europe and especially the Carmenere grapevines, which in practice became extinct. When the vineyards were replanted the growers could not replant Carmenere since it was extremely hard to find, and also more difficult to grow than other grape varieties common in Bordeaux.
Fortunately, this grapevine variety had been exported to Chile in 1850. During most of the 20th century, in Chile it was thought to be Merlot, and so was inadvertently collected and processed together with Merlot grapes (probably reaching up to 50% of the total volume) giving Chilean Merlots an unexplained rich and superior quality. In 1994, Professor Jean-Michel Bousiquot from the Montpellier's school of Oenology confirmed that it was Bordeaux Carmenere, not Merlot. [1] Attempts by French growers to bring back and re-adapt Carmenere vines from Chile after 1994 have not yielded good enough results, and thus have been abandoned.
Recent genetic research has shown that the variety may be distantly related to Merlot. It is claimed by some that the variety name is an alias for what is actually the Vidure, a local Bordeaux name for a Cabernet Sauvignon clone once thought to be the grape from which all red Bordeaux varieties originated. Another theory holds that the true name should be Biturica, thought to be an ancient variety that originated from Iberia (modern-day Spain and Portugal) as claimed by Pliny the Elder, and currently a popular blending variety with Sangiovese in Tuscany called "Predicato di Biturica".
[edit] External links
- "Carmenere al Mundo" first international contest of Carmenere wines, Nov.2006
- Carmenere, lost grape of Bordeaux
| Wine styles | Red/White | Rosé/Blush | Sparkling | Dessert | Fortified | Fruit | Ice Wine |
| Well known wines/regions |
Amarone | Asti | Barolo | Beaujolais | Bordeaux | Burgundy | Chablis | Champagne | Chianti | Dão | Egri Bikavér (Bull's Blood) | Madeira | Marsala | Port | Retsina | Rioja | Rhône | Sancerre | Sauternes | Sherry | Tokaji | Valpolicella | Vermouth | Vinho Verde | Vouvray |
| Well known Varietal grapes | Red — Cabernet Franc | Cabernet Sauvignon | Carmenère | Charbono | Gamay | Grenache | Malbec | Merlot | Muscadine | Négrette | Petit verdot | Petite sirah | Pinotage | Pinot Noir | Sangiovese | Syrah/Shiraz | Tempranillo | Valdiguié | Zinfandel/primitivo
White — Albariño | Chardonnay | Chenin Blanc | Gewürztraminer | Muscat | Pinot Blanc | Pinot Gris/Grigio | Riesling | Sauvignon blanc | Sémillon | Viognier |
| See Also | List of grape varieties | List of wine-producing regions |
 | This wine-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
es:Carménère fr:Carménère nl:Carmenère fi:Carmenère sv:Carmenère
