Fichas Técnicas
1996
My history with Carmenere began in 1996. It was my first job at De Martino. At that time, rumors were already circulating that Merlot in Chile wasn't Merlot, it was Carmenere. At De Martino, where I worked, Paula Valdivieso and Adriana Cerda were pushing many wineries to begin labeling the grape variety appropriately: Carmenere.
An Unexpected Blockage
In September of that year, we sold our first batch of Carmenere to Tesco in England. The problem was that the Chilean Agricultural and Livestock Service, the entity that controls wine production and sales in Chile, arrived at the winery and, using yellow tape, blocked the entire batch.
