Carménère

Carménère is an old Bordeaux red grape that all but vanished from France after phylloxera and was reborn as the signature red of Chile, where it had travelled in the nineteenth century and grown for over a hundred years mistaken for Merlot. Late-ripening and deeply coloured, it gives a supple, medium-tannin red of ripe plum, blackberry and black cherry framed by a distinctive green note — bell pepper, green peppercorn and a leafy, herbaceous edge driven by pyrazines. Softer and rounder than Cabernet Sauvignon, it is usually warm, smooth and approachable young. Chile's Central Valley is its modern home, and the grape is now treated as the country's flagship variety.