Carmenere is an old Bordeaux red grape that nearly disappeared from France after phylloxera and is now most associated with Chile, where it was long mistaken for Merlot. California's numbers show a small, slowly growing planting: bearing acreage rose from 71 acres five years before the present to 80 acres in the latest report, with 83 total acres logged for 2025, spread across 12 counties. It is grown here in small quantities, mostly for structured, herb-and-spice-inflected varietal reds rather than as a blending grape in larger-volume wines.
What kind of grape this is
- Species
- VITIS VINIFERA LINNÉ SUBSP. SATIVA (DE CANDOLLE) HEGI
- Berry color
- NOIR
- Country of origin
- FRANCE
- Parentage
- See below: Bibliography to pedigree confirmed by markers×See below: Bibliography to pedigree confirmed by markers
- Synonyms
- 35
- Approved on a US label
- Carmenère
- FPS selections
- 5
confirmed by DNA markers
names this grape is known by elsewhere, per VIVC
the names TTB permits on a bottle
distinct clones and selections held at UC Davis
Registries
What is published
Counts describe what this atlas holds for Carmenere, not what California grows. A zero is a published answer: it means the source names the grape and reports nothing under it, or does not name it at all.
- 188
county-years of acreage
12 counties, 80 bearing acres in 2025
- 165
district-years of crush
12 of 17 crush districts, 26 crop years
- 165
district-years of Brix
tonnage-weighted at the crusher, Crush Report Table 3
- 1
producer in this atlas
producers whose curated wine list names it — a curated roster of 2,772 producers, not a census of California
- —
regions with a maturity date
not one of the eight cultivars with a
Acreage in California
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Counties and concentration
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Where it is planted
Reported by county — never by AVA
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Share of each county's vineyard
Reported by county — never by AVA
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The counties
Reported by county — never by AVA
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Tonnage and price by district
Reported by crush district — never by county or AVA
All 12 districts on one axis →
loading crush report…
Brix at the crusher
Reported by crush district — never by county or AVA
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Growers in this atlas's roster
- Hall Winesbottled
Winery · Craig's Cabernet Sauvignon
1 of this atlas’s 2772 curated producers, 1 of them with a named wine in the atlas made from it. A roster is not a census — this is who the atlas has entered, not who grows the grape in California.