Historical review of Carmena

Some wine producing areas will be famous for their unique flagship grape varieties. For example, as we all know, New Zealand is famous for its Sauvignon Blanc, Austria is famous for its Green Fitner, Australia for its Silas, South Africa for its Pi Nuo Cao, Argentina for its malbec, Spain for its Tan Planus Lo, California for its gold powder, Burgundy for its Chardonnay and Black Pi Nuo, and Ontario for its ice wine.

These countries and regions have fully demonstrated the charm of their characteristic grape varieties; In turn, these grape varieties have strengthened local characteristics, and the wines brewed by these local grape varieties have also become the benchmark for measuring similar products in other regions.

Chile, on the other hand, didn't really realize that they also had their own flagship grape varieties until fifteen years ago.

This discovery is like a detective story. 1993, Claude Valla, a Chilean alcoholic, found something wrong with the Merlot vineyard outside his office window. In the following years, Valla paid close attention to the vines in the garden, from germination to harvest, and then found that some vines performed quite differently from others. He wandered around the vineyard, studying the leaves and growth patterns of grapes. Finally, he found that the buds of some vines are reddish, and there are five holes in the leaves (overlapping and matching to make a face), which is not as green and fragile as the adjacent leaves, and the back is not so hairy. Grapes growing from these twisted leaves ripen two to three weeks later than other grapes. In April, their leaves turn deep red-as bright as maple leaves. This should be the first hint: something must be wrong. The second hint is the wines made from these vines: they are nothing like Merlot.

For these special phenomena in Merlot Vineyards, several generations of Chilean wine drinkers have explained that the original grape vine introduced from France in the middle of19th century had a mutation in Chilean soil. In other words, Merlot became the Merlot of Chile. Wine farmers even call it "Merlot's survival of the fittest" or "Merlot of Pemo" (named after the Pemo Canyon in Chile).

However, Claude Valla was not satisfied with this explanation, so he contacted Jean-Michel Pohris Walter, a grape variety scientist at Languedoc-Montreux University in roussillon Province. He is the world's top expert on French grape varieties.

1994 Pohris Walter flew to Chile and walked in the vineyard with Valla. The French expert immediately admitted Valla's suspicion for many years that the vines that turned red in autumn were not Merlot. But what's that?

Three years later, after testing the genetic fingerprints of leaves, stems, fruits and roots of these vines, Pohris Walter's discovery was scientifically verified. Those vines that behave so differently are actually a rare and precious Bordeaux grape variety called Carmenere or Grande Vidure.

Pohris Walter told Valla that carmin is a French word, which means that the leaves of annatto turn deep red in autumn. 1998, the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture officially recognized the Carmena grape variety-it became the symbol wine of Chile by its own strength.

In just a few years, this grape different from Merlot will become Chile's national treasure.

Rodrigo Alvado, general manager of the Chilean wine reception (part of the Chilean wine organization), said at the time: "The discovery of Carmena is a gift from heaven to Chile. We have Carmena, but not in other parts of the world. "

But what exactly is Carmena, and why did it get due recognition after nearly 150 years?

The answer can be traced back many centuries. Bordeaux was built by Celtic tribes in northern France around 300 BC, when it was called Bituriges Vivisques. Celtic tribe settled in the left bank of Geelong Bay, calling itself "Burdigara" tribe. After the Burdigara tribe was occupied by the Roman Empire, the name has been used for centuries. When the king allowed people to plant vines, they planted a grape variety Biturica named after their tribe. The earliest record of this grape is Pliny the Elder in the 1 th century. With the passage of time, the name Biturica gradually evolved into Video, and finally became video. In Bordeaux in the18th century, Cabernet Sauvignon was called Little Videre, while Carmena was called Big Videre, which revealed the variety similarity between them. In fact, the label of the first Carmena wine sold in retail stores in Ontario is "Vina Carmen Grande Video1996" (that may be because "Carmen Carmenere" sounds too much like a joke).

Carmenere wine first won the prize in Bordeaux because of its deep color, but Carmenere grape is a variety that is difficult to ripen in cold and humid climate. It turned out to be the most difficult grape variety to ripen smoothly in Bordeaux. Even in a warm planting area like Chile, they can't mature at the same time as Merlot. This also explains why the first batch of Chilean Merlot wines shipped to Canada will taste like green peppers, just like the nearly ripe Cabernet Franc.

Unfortunately, this kind of grape is easy to get sick, but it can't bear fruit after flowering. For this reason, Carmena fell out of favor among Bordeaux wine farmers. /kloc-in the second half of the 0/9th century, the grape nodule aphid destroyed the vineyards in Europe, and Carmina did not replant. Today there is only 10 hectare of Carmena in France. Carmena grape was introduced to Chile around 1850, before the grape phylloxera invaded Europe. At that time, rich landlords introduced Bordeaux grape cuttings and hired French winemakers to open vineyards to make wine (this is the first winemaker who "flew across the ocean" in history. ) The cuttings of Kamana came to Chile together with those of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, malbec and Little Vito, but Kamana was mistaken for Merlot. Because Chile has escaped the ravages of the grape nodule aphid (the dry Atacama desert in northern Chile, Antarctica across the sea in the south, the endless Andes in the east and the Pacific Ocean in the west have protected its grapes from the grape nodule aphid), the central valley has become a hotbed of "Bordeaux's lost grapes".

Today, Chilean winemakers are still arguing about how to make full use of their "local" grapes. Many alcoholics still think that it is the best to make wine with other grape varieties (just as it used to do in Bordeaux), so Carmenere can be found in the most expensive wines in Chile, such as Clos Apar Tower, Altai, montes Cabernet Sauvignon Camry Limited Selection, Casa Silva Quinta Generacion Red and Casa Silva Sila Carmenere Rose. However, if you want to try the purest Carmena without any other varieties, you can try La Lejania Reservationa Carmen Re 2009, Conchay Toro Terrenyo Carmen Re Peu Mo Vineyard 2007 or Casa Rivas Gran Reservationa Carmen Re 2008. They are simply amazing.