Lakeside Libations A Flair For Carménère Nick Jeffrey libations@theanchor.ca
As I took down the Halloween decorations to make room to put up the Christmas decorations, I made sure to leave time for one more special event in the month of November, namely the observance of International Carménère Day. To the joy of my regular posse of tippling companions, I pulled some dusty old bottles from the cellar to appreciate this noble and classic grape on its special day. For those not familiar with the varietal, the Carménère grape is an ancient French varietal, and one of the six permissible red grapes in Bordeaux wines. Unfortunately, the Phylloxera blight of the 1860s that ravaged the vineyards of Europe all but destroyed the Carménère species. The grape was thought to be entirely extinct until it was rediscovered in Chile in 1994. As it turns out, the 32
November 06, 2023 Volume 23 No. 45
Carménère grape looks remarkably similar to Merlot, and the Carménère vines had been thoroughly mixed with the Merlot plantings in many of Chile’s vineyards. Winemakers had long known there was something unique about Chilean Merlots, but it wasn’t until this discovery that the true reason was revealed – up to half of the Chilean Merlot production was actually Carménère! Although the Merlot and Carménère grapes look alike, the similarities end there. Merlot grapes ripen a few weeks earlier than Carménère, so haphazardly interspersed plantings will always end up harvesting grapes that are not at the optimum ripeness. Fortunately, the Carménère grape has thrived in the Chilean climate, and grows much better there than it ever did in France. The Chilean wine industry has since claimed Carménère as their signature grape, much like
Chestermere Anchor News Magazine: Home Grown, Well Anchored, Reaching far beyond Chestermere’s Shores
