Steve Calderwood's - "From the Grapevine"
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Here Are the Two Ugly Step Children of Bordeaux

By Steve Calderwood

Yep, Bordeaux has more or less forgotten about two little beauties - carménère and malbec. The reason I wanted to take a moment to write about these rather obscure grapes is, first of all, that I was asked to do an article on malbec (I do take requests) and secondly that they both had a very regal beginning but only now have found their true importance once they moved south of the equator to the new world.

Their regal beginning is in the fact that they are two of the six grapes allowed in the Bordeaux blend. The grapes permitted are cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, petite verdot, malbec and carménère. However, those last two were considered mere blending grapes to give the cab or merlot blend a little more body or flavor. Bordeaux considered them the ugly step sisters.

But now they have truly come into their own in South America. They make some fabulous wines that are great bargains as well. Let's take a peek at these little gems and see why they're so special.

Carménère was first planted in Chile back in the 19th century and for the longest time it was believed to be merlot. The vines and grapes are similar in appearance. Oh, and by the way, at the time you could get a lot more money for merlot than carménère.

After phylloxera ravaged the Bordeaux vineyards, the growers did not replant carménère as it was viewed as a very finicky grape in comparison to the others in the blend; no one really wanted to be bothered with the grape.

Then, in 1996, research was done to find out why Chile's merlot could turn out grassy and green-vegetable in taste. That's when they found out a large percentage of their merlot was actually carménère. Both grapes were planted in the same vineyards and the carménère ripens about three weeks later than merlot. So if you picked when the merlot was ripe, the carménère would have a strong green pepper flavor and if you picked when the carménère was ripe, the merlot was overripe and had a nasty, jammy flavor.

Finally, in 1998, Chile allowed wines to be labeled as carménère and the Chilean wine makers started picking the varietals separately. Today, this grape makes some truly world-class, sweet and savory wines that exude blackberries and plums, all with a spicy, rich, mouth-filling texture.

Malbec, my other favorite South American wine, was first planted in Argentina in 1852. But while Argentina was producing tremendous amounts of wine (they're still the fifth largest producer in the world), it was generally of the Carlo Rossi-quality level.

Then in the mid-1990s, several progressive vintners started working on fine-wine projects in the country and it was just in time. The malbec vines were being pulled out at tremendous rates to make room for more high-level producing vines. Over 50 percent of the malbec vines were yanked, including some that were over 50 years old.

Today, top producers such as Catena, Altos Las Hormigas and Norton are creating deep, rich wines full of dark plums, raisins and my favorite flavor, bacon fat! I love this wine. For carménère, look to vintners such as Concha y Toro and Calina for some outstanding examples.

In conclusion, these two grapes bring out one of my other favorite things about the world of wine. That is its changing, evolving nature. Ten years ago, if you were to ask most wine geeks about either of these grapes, they'd call them minor grapes in the Bordeaux blend, period. Now they're producing some of the newest, most exciting wines in the world. It's just one more aspect of the wine world that keeps it exciting - continual, infinite change.

I know I said that there were six grapes allowed in the Bordeaux blend, but, as usual, I lied (I do it a lot). If you really want to stress out your wine geek friends, ask them what the two others are. They'll look at you like you're on drugs since most of them didn't even recall that carménère was allowed. So just look them in the eye with a smug smile and say, "Gros verdot and saint macaire, you bozo. Don't you know anything about wine?"

In their defense, these two grapes are so obscure that Oz Clarke, in his book "The Encyclopedia of Grapes," doesn't even recognize their existence. Trivia is sooo much fun.

With that, let's see what's coming up in our little world of wine.

On Tuesday, Dec. 15, the Grand Vin has its next wine tasting with a holiday theme from 6 to 8 p.m. The cost is $10, refundable on a case purchase.

The Hot Tin Roof has my favorite monthly event, this time a "Big Bordeaux Wine Pairing" on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 5:30 p.m. The cost is $32, including tax and tip; reservations are highly recommended, call 296-7701.

Upstairs at Louie's is having its next Art, Wine and Water event on Monday, Dec. 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. Peter Vey displays his works and Doug Shook creates some edible art. Cost is $15.

That's it for this week, so until next time - wine a bit, you'll feel better.