The big interview: Ana María Cumsille

Thirty years since Carmenere was rediscovered in Chile, Viña Carmen winemaker Ana María Cumsille tells Eloise Feilden how she came to love the country’s flagship grape.

IN NOVEMBER 1994, French ampelographer Jean-Michel Boursiquot walked through a vineyard in the Maipo Valley’s Alto Jahuel. It was there that he discovered something that would reshape Chile’s wine industry. Strolling through what were thought to be Merlot vines, he spotted something – a twisted stamen. From this Boursiquot made his fateful discovery – these were not Merlot vines after all, but Carmenere, a grape variety thought to be practically extinct since 1860, when French plantings were decimated by the phylloxera epidemic.

Carmenere had made the journey from Bordeaux to Chile in the 1850s with a shipload of other varieties. Thought to be Merlot, the grape had been unwittingly planted throughout Chile’s wine regions for almost 150 years, dubbed ‘Merlot Chileno’ for its distinct characteristics compared to European vines.

Viña Carmen, Chile’s oldest winery, played host to the momentous discovery, and the event reshaped its approach to winemaking.

Following, quite literally, in Boursiquot’s footsteps, today it is winemaker Ana María ‘Anita’ Cumsille who walks through the vineyards at Viña Carmen.

The Carmenere discovery is a legacy which Cumsille has come to admire, but this wasn’t always the case.

“In 1994 I was in my final year at university when I heard about the rediscovery of Carmenere, though I did not delve into it deeply at the time. Since I was not a winemaker yet, I was not fully immersed in the wine world, and I did not grasp the significance of this event for Chile,” Cumsille says.

She wasn’t alone. Even by 1996, when Viña Carmen bottled its first Carmenere, marketing the wine as the ‘lost variety of Bordeaux’, it had to be bottled under the Grande Vidure identity, since the variety was not registered with the Ministry of Agriculture, nor approved by law. It wasn’t until 1997, three years after Boursiquot’s visit, that Carmenere was included in the list of wine producing varieties with DO status.

Among winemakers, the decision to embrace Carmenere was a contentious one, with some Chilean producers continuing to bottle their wines as Merlot well into the early 2000s.

Chile’s love/hate relationship with its flagship variety is one Cumsille has experienced on a personal level; her own relationship with Carmenere has been fraught. Though she’s always understood it to be “emblematic” of Chile, and especially for Viña Carmen, she admits: “For many years I didn’t like it”.

Carmenere, she argues, is difficult to get right, and Chile’s winemakers have often made wines from the variety which are either too green or too ripe.

It’s only in the last five to 10 years, Cumsille says, that the grape variety has been able to shine. “We have learned how to make a good Carmenere,” she says, and Chile is today producing wines which she says are “very exciting”.

However, she says somewhat brazenly: “If you asked me that 10 years ago, I would have told you no.”

In 2023 Carmenere represented just 8.9% of national plantings, making it the fifth most planted variety in Chile. Cabernet Sauvignon is the most planted grape in the country, with more than 37,000 ha of vines. The Maipo Valley has become synonymous with the grape, and Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines are a major protagonist in Chile’s international success story.

Cumsille says that having a good reputation for multiple grape varieties is important for Chile’s reputation.

“Without a doubt, it enriches our portfolio and strengthens Chile’s identity as a versatile and dynamic wineproducing country,” she says.

Even so, Boursiquot’s discovery of Carmenere in 1994 was a turning point for Chilean viticulture, and a valuable one. In the decades since, Chile has flourished to become the heartland of a variety which, before 1994, had not been knowingly vinified for more than 100 years. Chile currently boasts the highest area of Carmenere plantings in the world, and the grape continues to be identified as its flagship variety.

GREATER UNDERSTANDING

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the event which shaped modern Chilean winemaking. Looking back, Cumsille appreciates how far the nation’s relationship with the grape has come. “Over the past 30 years, we have developed a deep understanding of the Carmenere variety, recognising its specific demands regarding terroir conditions to reach its full potential,” Cumsille says. The Apalta Valley has emerged as one of the most prominent regions for Carmenere, thanks to its granitic soils and warm climate. Nestled among hills and influenced by the nearby sea, Apalta is home to treasured old vineyards which produce some of the best Carmenere wines in the world.

“We are now creating wines with their own character and identity – elements that have become embedded in the DNA of Chilean wine,” Cumsille says.

Her own contentious relationship with the grape has evolved. “It’s always a challenge,” she admits, but I like a challenge. When something is difficult, I like it.”

Viña Carmen’s treatment of Carmenere has changed too. The winery began producing its Gran Reserva wine in 1996, and today has evolved to include a Delanz Carmenere Apalta in its portfolio. Additionally, since the 15th anniversary of the Carmenere rediscovery, Carmen has released a commemorative wine made from the variety every five years. Boursiquot returns to Chile in November to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of his discovery, and Viña Carmen plans to launch a new Carmenere wine to mark the occasion.

Cumsille vows that the winery is still committed to the variety. After all, it’s a grape “which continues to be a fundamental pillar in our history and in our future”.