: a full-bodied red varietal wine produced especially in Chile
Cordova believes that Chile's wine industry will prosper even more as the world comes to recognize the unique characteristics of the varietal the country claims as its own, Carmenère.—Chris Hardman, Americas, July/August 2004
also: the grape from which the wine is made
The Carmenère grape has a strange history in Chile, where until recently growers mistook it for a late-ripening Merlot. This largely forgotten variety from Bordeaux was transported to Chile before it was nearly wiped out by phylloxera in France in the mid-nineteenth century. —Ruth Van Waerebeek, Food & Wine, June 2002
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from French carmenère, "variety of red grape," borrowed from regional French (Médoc), probably alteration, by suffix substitution, of carmenet, variant of carbenet, cabernet, names for local grape varieties, of obscure origin
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