PANEL TASTING Chilean Carmenere Since growers have started treating it with increasing respect, Carmenere has been on an upward trajectory in Chile – and the best is yet to come, reports Peter Richards MW CARMENERE IS THE James Bond of wine grapes. It’s mysterious, with a past shrouded in conjecture. No one La Serena PARAGUAY knows how best to handle or contain it. It’s often been 1 on the ropes – for instance, when phylloxera virtually CHILE BRAZIL N ANDES Ovalle ARGENTINA wiped it out in Bordeaux – but it has proved a dogged Pacific Ocean URUGUAY Santiago Buenos Montevideo 2 Aires survivor, popping up in unexpected places. It goes under CHILE COQUIMBO ATACAMA many pseudonyms, from ‘Shelongzhu’ (China) to ‘Merlot Atlantic ANDES Ocean ANDES Chileno’ and (the best) ‘Black Bordeaux’ (Italy). CHILE But it’s Chile where the variety has made itself at home. ANDES COQUIMBO After phylloxera, Bordeaux growers proved reluctant to Pacific Mendoza Ocean ARGENTINA ACONCAGUA replant Carmenere, because it was finicky, late-ripening Santiago VALPARAISO Paredones and tricky to graft. But Chile was (and has remained) San CENTRAL VALLEY ostensibly phylloxera free and has the kind of warm, dry 3 Felipe Valparaíso SOUTHERN REGIONS climate in which late-season reds can thrive. When Carmenere arrived in the mid-19th century, mixed Santiago Pacific 4 MAIPO Ocean Osorno plantings were the norm and somehow it was subsumed VALLEY into the ‘Merlot’ category, known by growers as ‘Chilean’ ANDES ARGENTINA or ‘late’ Merlot, and sold under the same moniker. Hence Rancagua RAPEL 6 the distinctive, peppery style of Chilean ‘Merlot’. VALLEY 5 San 0 50 100 150 Fernando These days, Carmenere tends to be grown, made and kilometres promoted as a separate cultivar. Plantings have 7 Curicó increased. And yet opinion within Chile remains divided. Chilean Carmenere Many still believe Carmenere to be fundamentally limited, Talca 1 Elqui Valley 5 Colchagua Valley tricky to grow and good only for blends. Others point to 8 2 Limarí Valley 6 Cachapoal Valley MAULE ANDES 3 Aconcagua Valley 7 Curicó Valley Chile’s short track-record with it and advise patience. 4 Maipo Valley 8 Maule Valley Rapid progress Map:Maggie Nelson Research has shed more light on the subject. Yerko Moreno at Talca University has provided answers to the Chilean long-standing questions about Carmenere’s poor fruit Chilean Carmenere: Carmenere: set and clonal diversity. Casa Silva’s micro-terroir know your vintages project has provided guidance on Carmenere’s most the facts propitious microclimates (warm but with moderating 2016 Late season hit concentration. Drink Chile national wine influences) and soils (well-drained but not too fertile). by torrential harvest through to 2019. vineyard 141,918ha Other growers are taking Carmenere out of what were rains gave lighter reds Carmenere plantings traditionally deemed the best sites for it (hot, central of variable quality that 2012 Torrid heat. 10,861ha (8% of overall valley sites on deep alluvial soils) and experimenting in are approachable now. Drink up. Chilean vineyard) markedly different terroirs, often with exciting results. Growth in Carmenere Central Colchagua and Cachapoal have long been 2015 Hot, dry 2011 A coolish year 2005-2015 +59% Carmenere heartlands. Now though, it is spreading into growing season gave gave well defined, often Volume produced (2016) cooler eastern (Andean) or western (Pacific-influenced) effusive, engaging excellent wines that are 101 million litres extremities. The likes of Elqui, Limarí, Aconcagua and wines for early drinking. drinking well now. Key regions for Curicó are all finding success – while Maipo and Maule Drink to 2021. Carmenere Colchagua lead the field. Winemaking is increasingly nuanced, with 2010 A long, dry (4,145ha), Maule less heavy-handed use of oak and extraction. 2014 Spring frosts growing season that (2,348ha), Cachapoal For now Carmenere remains a bit-player, but it sent yields plummeting. gave some outstanding (2,102ha), Curicó attracts disproportionate interest and has many fans. Best wines are juicy and results. The best wines (1,238ha), Maipo (991ha) For a country that often complains about lacking lifted. Drink to 2022. drink well now. Carmenere & Carmenere identity and narrative, Carmenere offers an intriguing blends UK retail sales back-story and potential for uniqueness. 2013 Late, rain- 2009 Warm year, (2016) 5.7m litres (up affected vintage. Bright, resulting in generous 7.5% on 2015) Peter Richards MW is a wine writer, broadcaster and fresh wines of moderate wines. Drink up. Sources: SAG Catastro 2015, consultant, as well as DWWA Regional Chair for Chile Origo 2016 ➢ DECANTER • October 2017 | 107 PANEL TASTING CHILEAN CARMENERE The results Outstanding 95–97pts Disappointed with the quality on show from Carmenere’s Colchagua heartland, our panel found plenty of promise and much to discuss in other regions, says Tina Gellie THE TWO SIDES of the Carmenere coin certainly showed ‘Carmenere needs its obsessives and themselves in this tasting. Our experts were at once The scores excited about its potential in Chile, but disappointed by pioneers to push the boundaries and 129 wines tasted Cremaschi Furlotti, Single Vineyard, William Fèvre Chile, La Misión Gran the mediocrity of many examples – particularly from the Exceptional variety’s heartland. see what it can do’ Peter Richards MW Loncomilla, Maule Valley 2015 Reserva, Maipo Valley 2013 96 AC 95 PR 97 PT 95 0 Decanter average score: 96/100pts Individual judges’ scores: ‘Carmenere was once Chile’s flagship in the same way £15 Exel that Malbec is for Argentina,’ said Patricio Tapia. ‘But varietal wines, he felt Carmenere was best as a blending Outstanding Alistair Cooper 95 Peter Richards MW 96 Patricio Tapia 96 William Fèvre is a name long synonymous with Chablis, and the origins about 10 years ago Wines of Chile decided that diversity grape, needing 5% to 20% of one or more partners. ‘One 4 £13.99 (2013) Ministry of Drinks, Simply Wines Direct of this estate lie in his search for land beyond France, suitable for the was the key and Carmenere was sort of forgotten. of the standouts was a blend with Cabernet Franc,’ he Here in the heart of the Maule valley, it rains more (750mm) than areas production of high-quality Chardonnay. This led him at last to the door Highly Meanwhile, in Argentina, they continued to experiment said. ‘It might be counterintuitive, but the perfume and further north such as Maipo, and the temperature variation between of Victor Pino Torche, the owner of a farm in the hamlet of San Juan de Recommended with Malbec: planting it at higher altitudes; in the north; pyrazine greenness of these two herbal grapes worked day and night is particularly pronounced. Cremaschi Furlotti’s single- Pirque, Chile. Today it is managed by Victor’s youngest son Gonzalo, in the south… So Chilean producers are still far from brilliantly together.’ Tapia agreed and said growers 23 vineyard bottlings come from the best grapes grown on its Peñasco with winemaking done by Felipe Uribe and input from the well-known knowing all the various expressions or possibilities.’ should no longer fear pyrazine characters, and realise Recommended vineyards’ alluvial and volcanic soils. The wine is aged 50% in new oak, consultant Pedro Parra. With fruit from nearby San Luis de Pirque, this Alistair Cooper agreed, saying that because the focus that picking earlier can give excellent results. Other 66 with the other half split equally between second- and third-use barrels. is 89% Carmenere with Cabernet Sauvignon, aged in oak for 12 months. moved away from Carmenere, ‘I’m not sure it can ever successful blending partners were Syrah (giving spice) Alistair Cooper Vibrant floral nose, lively Morello cherry and cassis AC Effusively perfumed, with a lifted yet structured palate of enticing, be Chile’s signature variety, and that’s because it is and Petit Verdot and Malbec (florality). Commended flavours, enriched by a peppery spiciness. Firm backbone of tannin. tobacco-toned berry fruit widened by well-managed tannins. A lovely extremely site-specific when compared to Malbec which In terms of vintages, Cooper felt the few 2016s on 25 example of Old World meeting New World – bravo! does well almost everywhere in Argentina.’ show – from a cool vintage – were attractive, boding Fair Peter Richards MW An enticing nose of rich, dark fruit expanded by Cooper said Colchagua is the ‘spiritual home’ of well for the future and would likely surpass the warm- medicinal and wild herb aromas, leading to a juicy, grippy palate with PR Attractive hints of maturity, with dried red berry fruit accompanying Carmenere, but in this showing the region fared poorly. vintage 2015s that made up the majority of wines tasted. 10 an engaging wild edge. Dares to be different – really like this! notes of tobacco amid an alluring herbal freshness, while fine, elegant Peter Richards MW elaborated: ‘The sea of mediocrity ‘Carmenere is not a variety that is massively long lived,’ Poor tannins deliver complexity without heft. Long, stylish and classy. Patricio Tapia Full and rich, herbal and leather-infused red fruit, from Colchagua was the low point in this tasting. There he added. ‘We didn’t taste many more than 10 wines 1 well-proportioned yet soft tannins. Seductive, creamy-textured finish. PT Pretty, delicate and tightly wound, with a superb balance. was a blandness, a conformity and a dullness to many of that would be drinking better in 2020 than they are Faulty the wines that is a product of overly warm-climate now.’ Tapia agreed and compared them to Loire Drink 2017-2021 Alcohol 13.5% Drink 2017-2021 Alc 14% winemaking.’ He said Carmenere needs a long growing Cabernet Francs for their tannin structure, green 0 season but not a warm climate, which would allow pyrazine notes and perfumed lift that were best producers to get the elegance they were currently appreciated within five years of release.