It was a complete shock,’ says Alvaro Espinoza, remembering the fateful moment 30 years ago. Jean-Michel Boursiquot, the French ampelographer, had just informed him that his prized Merlot vineyard was not what he thought it was. ‘He told me it wasn’t Merlot at all… that it was a grape variety I’d never heard of – Carmenère!’ It was 24 November …

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