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 1994, and Espinoza was a 32-year-old winemaker at Carmen, in Chile’s Maipo Valley region. Espinoza spoke some French, so he’d been invited to host Boursiquot and show him around Carmen’s vineyard. He certainly hadn’t been expecting a lightning-bolt moment – one that would change not only his career, but the history of Chilean wine.
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Source : https://www.decanter.com.master.public.keystone-prod-eks-euw1.futureplc.engineering/premium/carmenere-marks-30-years-in-chile-537326/
