Carmenère
Historically,
Carmenère has been difficult to grow in
cold, humid climates, and, although this is one
of the most ancient varieties in Bordeaux,
plantings have not been maintained even in this
region, let alone any other in France, or for
that matter, anywhere in Europe!
Carmenère was prized
in the Medoc for both its depth of color and, in ripe years,
flavor that can range from herbal to gamy and add complexity
and interest to blends. Carmenère requires more heat
to ripen than the other varietals planted in Bordeaux. This
and its erratic tendency to develop a condition called coulure,
poor fruit set after flowering, may have caused
Carmenère to fall out of favor.
Thought to be the antecedent
of other better-known varietals, some think Carmenère
is possibly a long-established clone of Cabernet Sauvignon.
The Bordeaux synonym for Carmenère is Grand Vidure
and Cabernet Sauvignon is also known there simply as Vidure.
Some suggest that Carmenère may be Biturica,
the vine of not only ancient Roman praise, but also the word
then used to call the city that became Bordeaux.
Carmenère was imported
to South America in the 1850s, along with other Bordeaux
varieties, prior to the European outbreak of Phylloxera.
The largest established vineyards of this variety are in
Chile, although many of these were misidentified as Merlot
(the two vines share many similarities) for more than a
century. French ampelographer Jean Michel Bourisiquot discovered
the truth in 1994.
There may soon be something
of a resurgence in plantings of Carmenère. In California,
the virtual rescue and revival of this cultivar was the
result of a twelve-year quest by Karen Mulander-Magoon,
co-proprietor of the Guenoc and Langtry Estates in Lake
County. Cuttings of the cultivar had to survive three years
of quarantine and testing in Canada and New York, prior
to admission and planting in California in the late 1990s.
by
Ray
Krause
and Jim
LaMar
