Once Thought Extinct, Carménère Grape Increasingly Prevalent In Chile

Chile’s wine industry is looking to use one of its most unique grape variety’s to boost sales on the European continent.

The  Carménère grape was thought extinct until 1994 when dicovered in chilean vineyards. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Wine promoters want to use the Carménère grape to bolster the Chilean wine industry’s reputation in countries such as France and Spain, nations where it has traditionally struggled for exposure due to competition from domestic brands.

“We want to promote Carménère on the continent and publicize its rediscovery,” said director of the wine promoting foundation Images of Chile Juan Gabriel Valdes. “We want to hold an event, preferably in France, with cinema and culture stars promoting this exciting wine rediscovery.”

The Carménère grape was thought to be extinct until identified at Chilean Vineyard Villa Carmen in 1994. The grape was originally grown in the Bordeaux region of France until an outbreak of the insect disease Phollexra wiped out European vines in 1862.

Before the identification of Chilean stocks in 1994, the grape had previously been labeled as a type of Merlot variety. Chile is now the largest exporter of the grape variety internationally, growing 4,000 hectares in its central valley wine region (regions XI- XIII). The grape is also grown in California and Italy.

The grape variety is responsible for 8.7 percent of all Chilean wine produced each year, making it the fifth most prevalent variety grown in Chile.

Chilean wine exports up to September this year have fallen by 4.3 percent compared to the same period in 2008. The wine industry announced recently it intends to build upon increasing sales in new markets such as Brazil and Japan to establish these countries as big consumers (ST. Nov 24).

SOURCE: LA TERCERA
By James Fowler

A native of the North of England, James has divided most of his life between the cities of Newcastle and Leeds. After graduating with a history degree from the University of Leeds in 2007, he spent 15 months traveling South East Asia and Australia. This trip, following on from a year studying in Canada, has reinforced the traveling spirit in side of James. Residing in Santiago under the pretense of improving his language skills, he now realizes that learning Spanish in Chile is as hard as learning English from a Geordie. He currently gets to translate his passion for sport into writing, temporarily agreeing to sell his soul and call football 'soccer'. He is really enjoying Chile, particularly the weather and wonderfully cheap wine.