Next Hot Red Grape

If it looks like Merlot, blossoms like Merlot, changes color like Merlot and ripens like Merlot, it's Merlot!? Nope, and don't be ashamed, it fooled millions of people for over 100 years. It's called Carmenere.

With the advent of DNA analysis of grape varieties, many myths and "truths" have been dispelled in the wine business. One of the biggest is the long thought extinction of Carmenere. Originally in the classic Bordeaux blend it was not replanted after the Phyloxera blight in the late 1800's. What was unknown was that the grape was planted in Chile and it expanded its cultivation range as all wine growers thought it was Merlot. Prior to DNA analysis, the science you used to identify grape varieties was the science of Ampelography, leaf patterns. Today, most Carmenere is picked separately from Merlot and for good reason. Even though the grapes look alike, flower alike, change color alike and the juice in the fruit ripens alike, the seeds in the Carmenere stay bitter for an extra week or two. You just have to wait to make a great wine. In Bordeaux with its cooler climate and shorter growing season, the grape was allowed to die out because 9 years out of 10 the seeds never ripened and you couldn't help but make bitter wine.

Carmenere today is where Malbec was 10 years ago. Consumers are just finding out about it. The wine is smooth like Merlot but has more flavor in addition, the grape produces the same organic compound found in chocolate that gives us that lovey-dovey feeling. I am getting consumers giving me feedback after tasting the wine to the effect, " I don't like dry red wines, but I loved this?!"

In the store today we have one from Cono Sur of Chile, where else. It retails for $9.99 a bottle and in three months time it has gone from obscure to the number one selling red wine. Equally good with all red meats it excels with pork. I remember the Tuscans add cocoa powder to their wild boar stew, so no surprise there.

Caution! Some of the winemakers are not waiting long enough for the seeds to ripen and this makes a green tasting wine. You won't find any yucky Carmeneres at my store, cuz I taste all the bad wines, so you only have to taste the good ones.