Copa América: Malbec vs Carmenère

Saturday sees Chile and Argentina go head-to-head in football’s Copa América final – but if it were a wine competition, which nation would win?

In advance of this weekend’s battle, we thought it would be good to compare the vital statistics of the two nations’ flagship grapes: Malbec (Argentina) versus Carmenère (Chile).

Although neither are native to these countries, both thrive in their new homes, and also share a French origin – in fact, each of them have essentially been rejected from Bordeaux, where Malbec and Carmenère were once widely planted, and are still allowed as part of the appellation rules for the region.

It appears that Carmenère arrived in Chile a few years before Malbec made its way into Argentina, but on the other hand, the latter nation has almost 40,000 hectares of Malbec, compared to Chile’s 10,700ha of Carmenère – suggesting that Malbec has found a better home in Argentina than Carmenère has in Chile.

Then again, Chile benefits from having high-priced and first-rate wines made from both Carmenère and Malbec, and Chilean producers are increasingly isolating old vine Malbec for the creation of top-end products.

Anyway, you can read about each grape below, and decide for yourself which nation should win.

1. Argentina: Malbec

Malbec was originally known as Cot in its source region of Cahors in France, where it still dominates plantings. Althought Malbec was introduced to Bordeaux in the eighteenth century, little was replanted post phylloxera in the 1870s, when producers favoured the Cabernets and Merlot.

According to Wine Grapes, Malbec was introduced to Argentina by a French agricultural engineer called Michel Pouget in 1868, and Argentina now has more Malbec vineyards than anywhere else in the world.

Indeed, with 38,846 hectares planted to Malbec in Argentina, it is the most widely planted variety in the country, representing 12.76% of the total production of wine grapes in Argentina (and 35% of fine wine grapes, according to Wines of Argentina).

During 2014, Argentina exported 1,169,658 hectolitres of Malbec, up 10.43% on 2013, and Malbec exports have risen 570% over the ten years from 2004 to 2014.

While Chile also has extensive plantings of Malbec (see below), Argentina has just over 30ha of Chile’s flagship red grape, Carmenère, with just a handful of wineries making wines from the variety.

For more on Malbec in Argentina, click here

2. Chile: Carmenère

Unlike Malbec, Carmenère can call Bordeaux its home, with records mentioning the grape in association with the region as long ago as 1783.

However, similar to Malbec, few Carmenère vines were put back into Bordeaux soil after phylloxera devastated the region – mainly because of the grape’s poor fruit set, and, consequently, variable yields.

Also similar to Malbec, Carmenère made its way to South America in the mid-nineteenth century, although the grape appears to have beaten Malbec’s arrival by a few years.

Having said that, Chilean growers appear to have mistaken Carmenère for Merlot, until French ampelographer Jean-Michel Boursiquot correctly identified Carmenère growing in Viña Carmen’s Alto Maipo vineyards on 24 November 1994.

In terms of plantings, like Malbec, there’s now more Carmenère in Chile than France, with the South American nation boasting over 10,700 hectares of the variety, accounting for 8.2% of total Chilean plantings.

Nevertheless, there could be more Carmenère planted in China than anywhere else in the world.

According to Boursiquot, while the area of officially-classified Carmenère vineyards in China is 1,353 hectares today, he said there could be as much as 15,000ha in the ground, 50% more than Chile’s 10,700ha.

The reason for the large difference between the official figures in China and Boursiquot’s estimate stems from the fact Cabernet Gernischt, which is widely planted in the country, is a synonym for Carmenère.

But it should be added that Chile is also home to reasonably extensive Malbec vineyards, with a total of 2,104ha of the grape.

In particular, Colchagua’s Viu Manent is widely regarded as the pioneer in the production of high-quality varietal Malbec from Chile, although explorative winemakers today are now buying fruit from ancient vines in the south of the country to make high-priced examples.