It’s something you don’t really add a contingency for in your business plan. When Jorge Elgueta and his business partners planned their concept for a new winery, it was all about Maule and it was all about Merlot. In 1993, they purchased an estate and planted almost 30 hectares of Merlot vines in the heart of Maule. So far so good, you might be thinking.

A year later, however, a French ampelographer came to visit Chile and — over 250 km away from Jorge’s vineyard while on a visit in Maipo — discovered that much of the Chilean Merlot planted around the country, was not Merlot at all. It was in fact a rare, almost-forgotten-about Bordeaux variety known as Carmenère. That discovery turned Chile’s important Merlot industry on its head, and it also scuppered the Merlot and Maule fantasy of Jorge and his partners, because as it turns out – more than half of their ‘Merlot’ vines were, indeed, Carmenère.

They were faced with a decision: rip out all the Carmenère vines and replant with Merlot, or pivot the business plan and focus on Maule and Carmenère. They chose the latter, and it has been TerraNoble’s mission to help put both on the map ever since.

Maule has actually been on Chile’s wine map for centuries, and is the largest wine-producing region in Chile today, although it has always been better known for its bulk wine than its quality wine. However, with a long winemaking tradition and good natural conditions, the original investors felt that this was indeed a region which could produce noble wines, hence why they named the winery ‘TerraNoble’ (meaning noble land).

Premium-focused wineries in Maule, including TerraNoble, Bouchon, Erasmo and Gillmore, have helped build the reputation of Maule as a quality wine region, and a new wave of winemakers coming back to this historic region — especially with the VIGNO project — is also changing the tide of appreciation for Maule.

“Maule has more old vines than anywhere else in Chile,” says TerraNoble winemaker Marcelo Garcia. “It’s very interesting to visit Maule because you have so many old and small vineyards, with many different producers. There’s a complexity of aromas here because of all the forests and different biodiversity — there’s lots to discover in Maule!”

As Maule proved itself to be suitable terroir for the project, the next challenge was learning how to make noble Carmenère — a grape which had been misunderstood in Chile for centuries.

“When we first started making Carmenère, knowing it was Carmenère, we didn’t know how to make it,” says Marcelo. “But in the last five years or so we are really starting to understand the variety and understanding our vineyard sites better and adapting to climate change. For example we’ve changed our picking dates considerably: we used to make Carmenère one of the last varieties to pick in the season, but now we are picking it up to 45 days earlier!”

“I think we’re also starting to see much better Carmenère in Chile because of the age of our vines,” he adds, “our Carmenère vines in TerraNoble are now 27 years old and coming into their own.”

Unfortunately, Jorge never got to see the Carmenère project come to full fruition, as he passed away in 2003 — just a decade after he helped found the winery and plant the first Merlot and Carmenère vines. The winery is now in the hands of another Chilean family, the family of entrepreneur Wolf von Appen, but TerraNoble’s affinity with Carmenère and Maule remain — although the mission has expanded somewhat.

The 150,000 case wine production now includes a wide range of white, red and even orange wines from Maule and beyond, with their territory expanding to 300 hectares to include vineyards in Casablanca and Colchagua today.

The expansion of terroir has also led to an interesting terroir series of Carmenère wines — by showing this distinctively Chilean grape with different terroir expressions.

Their San Clemente vineyard in Maule is where Marcelo thinks you get the most classic expression of Carmenère: “You can a black fruit, a black berry note, with some classic pyrazine spice, but there’s a sweetness in the mouth with a smooth mouthfeel. For me San Clemente makes a very elegant Carmenère, which shows the typicity of these old vines.”

The CA line is a special duo of Carmenère wines in Colchagua: one from the Andes region of Los Lingues and one from the coastal region of Lolol. “The fruit is always the protagonist in Los Lingues,” says Marcelo, “and it can be red or black depending on the year. But there’s always a light herbal note without being pyrazinic, but smooth in the mouth and a little bit fatter.”

From the coastal region of Lolol, the Carmenère takes on a totally different character — wilder tannins and acidity with meaty, black olive and ashy notes, a much more savoury style. “The granite soils of Lolol has a much lower fertility and we get much more tannin in the Carmenère there,” says Marcelo, “but it ripens much earlier, by about a week earlier than the Andes.”

All three Carmenère wines tasted notably different in the glass and I believe it’s not only a great way to show Chile’s diversity of terroirs, but also flex the transformational qualities of this rather rare grape variety.

The development of terroir-driven Carmenère in Chile is a new phenomenon and there are few wineries who have such a series (Lapostolle is the only other that comes to mind), although with the new winemaking philosophy of Chile, I hope terroir Carmenère wines are something we see more of. As winemakers like Marcelo get to grips with Carmenère, it is becoming apparent that this variety can work in a range of locations from coast to mountains.

Although TerraNoble, and indeed Chile, didn’t plan on specialising in Carmenère, there’s nowhere else in the world better to do it.

Tasting Notes of TerraNoble Carmenère wines & more

TerraNoble Gran Reserva

Coming from ungrafted vines planted in 1993, this is TerraNoble’s oldest block of Carmenere and it has some concentration and depth. In the 2017 vintage I tried, the typical berry fruit aromas of Carmenère with sweet paprika spice come through but it also has lashings of vanilla bean and dark chocolate from some time in the barrel.

TerraNoble CA1

From Los Lingues, this is the Andes Carmenère of the collection and has soft red and black forest fruit aromas with sweet paprika and spice notes and a balanced, long finish. With a combination of barrel ageing and time in foudre, the oak is more subtle than the Gran Reserva and allows the cooler mountain fruit style shine through. I tried both the 2016 and 2017, and despite 2017 being a warmer vintage, the progression wine winemaking style shows a much fresher expression.

TerraNoble CA2, 2017

Coming from the granite soils of the coastal hills of Lolol, this 2017 vintage showed all the ripeness of the hot vintage with intense ripe, dark fruit aromas, but also graphite, ashy and meat on the nose. It’s a complex wine with spicier tannins and good freshness. I loved it.

Disidente 2017

This line is somewhat of an experimental line for Marcelo, where he can try different wines out beyond the traditional portfolio. Coming from Casablanca, this is a different world from the racy coastal white wines more typical there — it is a red blend of Syrah and Tempranillo. Aged in tinaja and foudre, it is feisty on the palate with peppery tannins and a lively acidity, and an intriguing nose of blackberries, black olives and charcuterie. A really interesting and enjoyable wine that throws a new light on Casablanca.

• Read more about TerraNoble winery in our online winery guide

• Read more about Carmenère in our guide to the variety