The Carmenere grape
variety was once heavily planted in the Bordeaux
region of southwestern France
. This variety is one of the six varieties that are allowed
for use in making red wines in Bordeaux. Because of
problems ripening the crop each year, Carmenere is now almost
impossible to find in Bordeaux.
Today, it is most used in Chile
where it was imported in 1850. It was originally mistaken
for Merlot and continues to often be mislabeled in Chile
as Merlot
.
Carmenere is a good blending
grape but makes undistinguished wines when bottled as a
single varietal. It's wines are very soft and mellow and
do not age well. In recent years, many Chilean wineries
have bottled Carmenere by itself but these wines are rarely
worth the money in relation to many other red wines.
