Carmenère 30 YEARS IN CHILE

The unanticipated discovery in the Maipo Valley of this now-signature grape was Chilean wine's defining moment. Three decades on, some of the country’s leading winemakers reflect on how they made a lost French variety their own

- AMANDA BARNES

It was a complete shock,' says Alvaro Espinoza, remembering the fateful moment 30 years ago. Jean-Michel Boursiquot, the French ampelographer, had just informed him that his prized Merlot vineyard was not what he thought it was. 'He told me it wasn't Merlot at all... that it was a grape variety I'd never heard of- Carmenère!"

It was 24 November 1994, and Espinoza was a 32-year-old winemaker at Carmen, in Chile's Maipo Valley region. Espinoza spoke some French, so he'd been invited to host Boursiquot and show him around Carmen's vineyard. He certainly hadn't been expecting a lightning-bolt moment - one that would change not only his career, but the history of Chilean wine.

At the time, Carmenère was believed to be practically extinct. This ancient variety had travelled around Europe's wine regions, becoming one of the key varieties in Bordeaux by the early 1800s. But when the devastating phylloxera plague wiped out great swathes of Europe's vineyards, Carmenère was among the victims. The variety was all but lost from the vineyards of Bordeaux and was never replanted to any significant degree.

SURVIVAL IN EXILE

But that belief, it turns out, was wide of the mark. While accurate records from the time are scant, the thinking is that Carmenère had already been brought over from France into Chile, along with other varieties, by the mid-1800s, before phylloxera hit Europe. Leading Chilean historian Pablo Lacoste has stated, in an interview for Wines of Argentina, that 'Carmenère and Malbec entered Chile and Argentina in the mid-19th century, as part of the Frenchification of viticulture...' The Carmenère was mistakenly labelled as Merlot and planted around the country under a false guise. Thus it secretly survived in exile for more than 100 years, until that fateful spring day in 1994.