Hereu: ‘I was told Carignan would never sell’

Arnaud Hereu, chief winemaker of Chilean estate Odfjell, was told he would never be able to sell Chilean Carignan when he launched his first vintage in 2001.

A walk through the vines at Odfjell

Speaking to the drinks business during a recent visit to Chile, Hereu said: “Back in 2001 it was easy to buy old vine Carignan for $0.10 a kilo – today it sells for $1.50 a kilo.

“Everyone thought we were crazy for making Carignan in Chile and when I released my first vintage in 2001 people told me it would never sell.

Odjfell’s chief winemaker, Arnaud Hereu

“In 2005 other producers started getting interested in it and now companies like Concha y Toro are spending a lot of money on making old vine Carignan.”

Odfjell is the most prolific Carignan producer in Chile, making around 2,000 cases a year. The company has used no oak in the wine since 2012.

“It’s a great backbone in a wine – it’s a shame it’s seen as such a third class variety,” Hereu lamented.

In 2013 Odfjell release the first ever Tannat from Chile, which Hereu believes is less tannic than the French equivalents and more perfumed than those from Uruguay.

Like Cousiño Macul, Odfjell is putting its faith in Merlot, which Hereu believes is making a comeback in America.

“You can’t write Merlot off just because of a stupid movie. We make good Merlot in Chile but we’re years away from producing the same outstanding quality as Pomerol – us and Errazuriz are working hard on it but it’s not easy.

“You can’t keep reinventing the wheel, sometimes you have to go back to basics,” Hereu told db. “I don’t think we’ve found the best sites yet for Merlot in Chile. The difficulty is that it has such a short harvest window of about four days.

“The best place for the grape might be down south close to the Andes where there is a wider harvest window,” he added. Hereu admitted that he “runs away from concentration” in wines.

“If it’s too concentrated then you don’t smell anything in the wine and have to wait 20 years to drink it. I want to make drinkable wines,” he said.