Photo by VIVC - Vitis International Variety Catalogue
Description
Carmenère is an old red grape from the Bordeaux vineyards, and DNA studies place it in the Cabernet Franc family. It has small bunches of medium black berries and gives rich, deeply coloured, tannic wines that tend to be low in acidity. Picked underripe it tastes strongly green and herbaceous, which is why full ripeness matters more with this grape than with most.
Characteristics
Black wine grape; small bunches; medium berries; seeded; vigorous; low fertility on the basal buds; mid-season ripening; very prone to poor fruit set (coulure); deeply coloured, tannic wines
Growing Tips
Carmenère's buds near the base of the cane are not very fruitful, so cane-prune it and keep longer canes rather than short spurs. Fruit set suffers badly in cold or wet weather at flowering, so give it your warmest, most sheltered spot. Leave the fruit to hang until fully ripe to avoid green, herbal flavours.