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Carménère has become a signature of Chile, a once-lost Bordeaux variety that thrives in the sunny vineyards of its new home in the Southern Hemisphere. But Carménère’s journey to become a Chilean signature only began 30 years ago—and it all started in the vineyards of Viña Carmen in Maipo Valley.
In the years since Carménère was rediscovered in Viña Carmen’s vineyards, the winery has fully invested in bringing this noble red grape back to life, first blending it with Cabernet Sauvignon and releasing the Carmen Reserva Grande Vidure (a synonym for Carménère) in 1996. Today, Viña Carmen has honed its deep understanding of the Carménère grape, planting it in the most optimal sites and finding just the right viticultural techniques to achieve top-quality wine.
The inextricable link between Carménère, Chile, and Viña Carmen all started in 1994, when French ampelographer Jean-Michel Boursiquot discovered that a curious plot of Viña Carmen’s Merlot vines were not, in fact, Merlot at all. Here in the Alto Jahuel area of Maipo Valley was Carménère, a Bordeaux variety that was thought to be extinct after phylloxera decimated the vineyards of France.
In this discovery, Viña Carmen—the first winery in Chile—saw an opportunity to develop Carménère into a specialty of Chilean wine, and thus began a 30-year journey to bring this grape back to life. Part of that journey involved fine-tuning the management of Carménère in the vineyard, such as green harvesting and leaf removal to achieve fully ripe berries without too many herbaceous flavors, and finding just the right time for harvest.
But it also involved finding just the right Chilean terroir for Carménère, and as Viña Carmen celebrates the 30th anniversary of the grape’s rediscovery, it has certainly done just that. Chile is now the world leader for Carménère, and with almost 10,000 hectares of vines, Carménère comprises 8 percent of Chilean wine production.
Within that landscape, Viña Carmen has pinpointed the Apalta Valley as a particularly special spot for delicious, high-quality Carménère. This small valley is located at the foot of a mountain range, where a dry, warm climate ripens grapes fully during the day and cools just enough at night to preserve acidity. This results in fruity, juicy Carménère with blackberry, cherry, and spice aromas, plus a full body and lovely, velvety tannins.
Over the years, Viña Carmen has grown to showcase the many facets of Carménère in multiple wines, from the Gran Reserva that first brought Carménère back to the world, to the Carmen Delanz Apalta that shows off the stunning quality of wine that comes from the Apalta Valley. Based primarily on Carménère, the Delanz Apalta comes from dry-farmed vines that are nearly a century old, carefully selected for only the richest and most expressive grapes. It melds lush, ripe red and black berry fruit with underlying herbal tones and just the right amount of vanilla and spice.
It says it all in the name: Viña Carmen is the leading producer of characterful and delicious Carménère from Chile. From the moment this lost grape variety was rediscovered in its vineyards, Viña Carmen has been determined to use Carménère to bring Chilean wine greater prominence on the world stage, and over the last 30 years, it has done exactly that.
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