Carmenere

Can this variety follow Petit Verdot out of obscurity?

Nowadays this variety most commonly grown in Chile where many vineyards have found that the vines they thought were Merlot were in fact Carmenere. The vines were imported to Chile from Bordeaux in the nineteenth century and the mistake was not discovered until the 1990s.

As it turned out Carmenere has shown it is capable of producing high quality red wine, so many Chilean wineries have stuck with it. This story has echoes of the Sangiovese/Carnelian mix up in Western Australia.

Carmenere ripens earlier than Cabernet sauvignon and could be grown successfully in a number of Australian wine regions.

The variety is being pioneered in Australia by Olssens of Watervale in the Clare Valley, Red Earth Estate and Macquarie Grove Vineyards in the Western Plains Zone of NSW, Brown Brothers in the King Valley and by Amietta in the Geelong Wine Region. Amietta are using the variety in a blend with Cabernet sauvignon.

At the 2007 Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show Olssens of Watervale received a Silver Medal for their 2006 Bass Hill Vineyard Carmenere and Brown brothers recieved a commendation for a 2007 Carmenere.